


Salvation (The Walking Dead - Season Five)

by LastRitex



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Canon Compliant, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Canon-Typical Violence, Death, F/F, Flirting, Gen, Gore, Horror, Romance, Survival
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-11
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-07-29 17:51:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 30
Words: 92,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16269308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LastRitex/pseuds/LastRitex
Summary: 'Now almost a decade long survivor of the ZA, Clementine has long been running out of the scarce resources needed to keep her spiritually adopted son, AJ adequately protected.Tensions are high within the group and Lillys presence only serves to add fuel to the fire. Things look to be coming to a head until one run for supplies has them discovering something troubling.The ensuing investigation sparks something long forgotten in Lilly and sets them all on a path that will either prove to be their Salvation or their Final Reckoning.





	1. Letting it Out.

**Author's Note:**

> *The following story is a five episode season. Each broken up into six parts. A brief intro below will catch you up on how things got to where they are now for Clementine. 
> 
> All canon as of Suffer the Children. I wrote this before we knew TFS would be finished, thus Broken Toys and the finale has truly broken the continuity. My story diverges a lot because of this.
> 
> * Set Three Weeks after the events of Season Four, which saw the rescue of Minnie and Sophie from the group Delta lead by Lilly. The mission coincided with all out war between Delta and the faction they had been fighting, causing lives to be lost. Only Louis, Violet, Aasim and Tenn survive from the boarding school.
> 
> * During their escape, Clementine made a split second decision to rescue Lilly from certain death that now causes deep rooted friction between the whole group. 
> 
> Enjoy!

*

Clementine lay, her legs swinging gently back and forth off the edge of the 150 foot high platform the group now begrudingly called their home. 

She had been quick to volunteer for watch tonight but her usual vigilance currently escaped her in favour of staring almost longingly into a different kind of oblivion.

The sky was violently black, but it only sought to make the stars suspended within it glitter more aggressively than Clementine had ever noticed before.

She was feeling particularly brittle tonight and sought respite from her thoughts however possible. Lifting her arm she traced out the same constellations she and Violet had made together. It was something she did often now, a comfort that took her back to one of the last positive, calm memories she had experienced inbetween all of the decay.

But that wasn't long before she and AJ found themselves running. Again. The Ranch, Richmond, The School. They had all fallen, become tainted. First to people. Houses divided. Then to the walkers. Clementine had no doubts the same would happen to the place they laid their heads now. A damn water tower in Southern Pennsylvania.

It wasn't ideal. But it had sure kept them protected and undetected from the walkers and passing groups since they had holed up there. Getting up and down it's structure every day had proved to be a potential death trap itself but there had been no fatalilties thus far, though they were still dealing with previous casualties.

Lilly was still in the process of nursing her broken collarbone back to health so she hadn't step foot any further than the observation deck since they had arrived, and AJ was under strict rule to stay put inside the tower under the guise of making sure Lilly came to no harm. Which was a real possibility considering the majority of the group hadn't forgiven her for what she did to Ericson.

However in reality Clementine just didn't want AJ tackling the ladder down to the ground any more than necessary. She would be damned if after everything she'd protected him from it would be falling off a ladder that took him away from her.

Clementine was almost done with tracing the Star Bird when an ear splitting creeking sound had her instinctively reaching for her double barrel, aiming it at the source of the noise and lowering it back down within the space of a second or two once she processed where it had come from.

"Jumpy tonight" James said, pulling himself up and out of the hatch of the Water Towers domed head.

"I'm jumpy every night." She claimed, throwing the shotgun back down at her side, secretly embarassed at her own jitteryness. "It's a good job you didn't have that damn mask on. Your head would be rolling in the grass about now."

"I like rolling around in the grass." He replied, making the small leap down to the deck Clementine occupied. She couldn't tell whether that was meant to be a joke or if he was just being his enigmatic self. Either way she declined to look at him as he sat down beside her.

"Look, I'm good. You don't have to take over." Clementine said, hoping to be left alone again. She was left wanting.

"No. I'm.. okay. Can't settle. Tenn, he is loud, when he sleeps. For a little guy." He replied in his usual monotone cadence. He pulled his knees up to his chest, resting his head against the cold steel of the tower.

Clementine supressed a half smirk, Tenn was an impressive snorer. But she didn't reply. She missed the sound of silence already and sure wasn't going to make it easy for James. She could feel his eyes on her, he had a tendency to stare and it had made some of the group uncomfortable on more than one occasion. Not that Clementine would let him know. Social cues were not his strong suit, never would be.

"Spot anything? While you've been out here." James asked. Clementine sighed a little before answering. He was usually a man of few words. Sure picked the wrong night to find his voice.

"The dead."

"Yes. The dead is a given. I meant more, signs of life." James replied.

"No." She shot back matter of factly. But James went on, fumbling for more from her.

"For the best. I guess. Don't find many well meaning people around. This far in. Lucky with you guys. I think." 

Clementine sighed again, if he was going to suck up from here on in then he might end up passing out, and as much as she flirted with hoping that would happen, she still wouldn't really be as alone as she wanted to be tonight.

"Look, thanks for saying that. But i'm going to level with you. Me, I flatter to decieve. You've not struck gold. You're definitely not lucky. I mean well, sure. But I'm bad news. Every group I've ever ran with has gone to shit. No matter what I do. Nothing changes." 

Clementine had grown to supress thinking about the distant past over the years, let alone talking about it. But this week had been different, she'd been unable to shake the darkness she'd been feeling. And mentioning her past now had shook something loose inside her head. Images of previous protectors infiltrated her mind. Her last image of Lee.

James looked taken aback at Clementine's statement. He fell silent while he searched for adequate enough words to respond to her.

"This world, is tough Clementine. Can't beat yourself up, about that. You think that everyone has stayed safe in one place since the old world died? You can't blame yourself."

"You're wrong, James. Look at Ericson. Eight years into this and they had managed to stay safe. Then I turn up and somehow, within days, they're forced out. Their home torched."

"Wasn't you, though. That woman sleeping in there." He thumbed over his shoulder to the inside of the tower where Lilly slept. "People like her are the reason we're all out here now, Clementine. Whisperers. Had people like her." He seemed satisfied with his answer but it wouldn't cut it for Clementine. 

She shook her head, becoming more agitated.

"I might not deal the blow but, I-I don't know how to explain it, it's like I carry something with me. That follows me. Everyone I'm with, they die, James." She was deadly serious but James scoffed nervously.

"Exaggerati-" Clementine cut him off at that, turning her head now to look at him and blinking a little faster to conceal the tears that were forming at the edges of her eyes. He might not understand what not to say but she sure as hell wasn't going to let it slide.

"I wasn't being over dramatic! You really don't understand. I bring death with me! When I say everybody dies around me, they do! I've been with three groups before you people and- and- the only one I know who still breathes is Lilly. And that's only because she got out of dodge seven years ago. You're all better off." Clementine finished, feeling a tear escape down her cheek she flushed and turned away, embarassed. She hadn't cried in a long time. It felt so alien to her.

James composed himself after her outburst. It seemed to Clementine like her words had hit him pretty hard. Though she struggled to read him at the best of times.

She didn't want to go off like that, she just couldn't keep a lid on it anymore, not tonight.

"And AJ?" James let his name hang there for a few seconds before continuing.

"He told me you were there the day he was born. Five now, yes? You've protected him all this time, Clementine. Told me what you went through, at the Ranch. To get him back. I- I have no doubt people have died for you. I know the burden. You have to carry. It can get real out here with your own thoughts. But we're here. With your help. And those people who protected you. Died for you. They must have been something special. Left behind a true protector." James finished, he first hesitated before slowly reaching out an arm and resting it on Clementine's shoulder.

She softened a little at his touch. She knew his words rang true but allowing herself to feel that felt like tempting fate. She could never rest on AJ's safety.

"And if AJ is an exception to the rule. That's okay. Because I know. In a life and death situation - like Delta... the Commonwealth, you will do what you can to get people out of it. You saved the woman that burned down Ericson. Took stones, Clementine." 

Clementine thought she saw him furrow his brow for a second after then. She knew like the rest he probably had to fight the urge every day not to push Lilly over the deck to her death. Even with his complete aversion to confrontion, he must still feel some resentment. Lilly, much like her father could get a rise out of just about anybody.

Clementine spoke now, trying to wipe away the stifled tears as subtly as she could. Bringing her legs back up off the edge where they had started to lose feeling.

"I couldn't let her go like that. The first time we locked eyes again in the woods, after what she did to Carley, stealing the RV, I felt the strangest confliction...

I wanted her dead and yet, to be held by her at the same time. By the end of our conversation, the hate took over, and that only got worse when she destroyed Ericson. But seeing her on the floor like that after falling to the Commonwealth, about to become one more ghost to me, I couldn't do it. I already live with too many ghosts." 

It felt strange opening up to James this way, especially after wishing he'd just go back to bed and leave her be. And not least because he was the last person she expected to find his way past her defences. He relented his searching stare now, instead focusing intently off into the far distance where a mountain range cut into the skyline. 

"Clementine. I don't know everything you've been through. And I know the others can't agree. With saving her still - but if keeping her around gives you a - peace, who am I to challenge, that."

"Thank you, James. Her names Lilly by the way." She cocked him with her elbow slightly but hoped he got the message.

"Sorry, I will try to break that habit. If I can. Some die hard though." Clementine smiled at this for the first time tonight. The two had only really talked practicalities in survival when it came to conversation up until now and despite her early feelings she felt better for the change in exchange between them now

"Thanks. Then again 'that woman' is a damn site more respectful than what I've heard the others call her. Not that she doesn't deserve it..."

James had a tentativeness in his voice as he asked his next question.

"Why this, doubt? Now. You're strong, I haven't seen you break. Not even in the woods. When we first met. AJ shot - not that it's a bad thing" He added quickly, clarifying himself. "We all have moments."

Clementine picked her fingertips at this. A pressure began at the bridge of her nose and she was unsure if she wanted to answer that question out loud for fear of more tears. James waited her out quietly. It was tough for her right now and he wasn't going to push if she didn't want to answer his admittedly probing question.

She'd been trying to keep a lid on the root of why she had been feeling so fragile lately but maybe it was better to let it out in front of James than have a meltdown tomorrow when the day arrived.

"Lilly still has a watch." Clementine started. "I don't know whether it's right, but it's working. I noticed her pull it out a few days ago. I don't know why I bothered, but I checked it while she slept last night."

James was confused. "Okay?" He replied, allowing her to go on.

"It has the date on. My birthday was six days ago." She continued, trying to be steely as she relayed what was troubling her so much.

"Oh. Must have been sad. For you. I can't remember the last time I acknowledged my own. Like my name. Got away from me. You, uh, get to thinking about before all this then?" Clementine noticed James start to move his feet nervously at this talk. She wasn't used to sensing emotion from him.

"It's not knowing my birthday that's got me feeling like this. It's what happened six days later. Probably the worst day of my life. And I've had some fucked up days." She confirmed.

"No doubt" James said, his breath baited awaiting the revelation.

"It's the day I first lost the three most important people in my life. I didn't know at the time that my parents were already long gone when I saw them on the street, I'd been protected from that by a man who really gave everything to keep me safe. I lost him that day too. His name was Lee. He had no business saddling himself with me. But he did. Until the end." Clementine looked up now to the stars again. Trying to regulate her breathing as it was getting out of hand.

"I'm sorry. I can't imagine. Seeing loved ones that way." Clementine remembered then, James had briefly mentioned his father in their first conversation. She hadn't asked what happened to him at the time, she'd assumed the same that happened to everyone.

"You weren't there? When he, when he passed? You're Dad, I mean."

"Could not tell you. If he's still around now. Living through this. Might never have seen day one. For all I know" he posed, a sombre look fell over him. "Prison. When I was small. Child of the system when this happened." Clementine was drained, but she offered the only empathy she could muster.

"Maybe it's better if he didn't? Live to see this I mean. It's bad enough worrying about death without having to worry about coming back to live as the dead do now. We have to think about a bullet to the brain when our time comes. And sometimes we have to be behind that trigger. For the ones we love."

"Lee?" James asked.

Clementine nodded. "A last request."

"You did right by him in his last moments." James affirmed. "I'm sure he would be proud. His legacy. What his protection and sacrifice has given. You are paying that on with AJ. And with Lilly." Clementine allowed a fleeting feeling of immense pride at James' words, denying it again almost as quickly.

"No more ghosts." Clementine whispered.

"No more ghosts." James echoed.

The two survivors fell quiet together for a while then and the comfort of silence returned. A sense of catharsis followed slowly after, seeping through Clementines veins toward her heart . A burden allayed somewhat.

James eventually broke the quiet again, pushing his fringe from his clammy forehead as he spoke.

"Get some sleep Clementine. I've got it from here." She yawned, not needing any convincing after spilling the contents of her head like that to a virtual stranger. And it had gotten real cold, real quick.

Clementine dragged herself to her feet, shaking her legs to get the feeling back in them. She then clambered up toward the hatch that held eight sleeping bodies within. 

"Hey, James?" She called back, stopping to voice her suspicions.

"Yes?" He answered, standing up to meet her eyes one last time before she disappeared for the night.

"Thanks for pulling that out of me. I didn't know it before, but I needed it... You knew though, didn't you." He smiled as he replied.

"I had some feeling. You were withdrawn. But don't mention it. We all need a little bloodletting - once in a while. I could tell it had been for you. Sleep lighter tonight." He finished.

"I will." 

And with that she pulled open the hatch, much more deftly than James had done earlier, and descended from view into the pitch black. She pulled out a lighter she'd scavenged earlier in the day from her back pocket, and using the flame she made her way to where AJ and Violet lay. Tenn still snored violently in the corner.

Stepping over the entangled legs of the other members of her group, Clementine knelt down and nestled herself between the two people she cared most about in this world. 

Instinctively she lay toward AJ, trailing an arm over his side loosely. 

Closing her eyes, Clementine could still see Lee. It still hurt. But a little less now. Knowing that his sacrifice enabled her to be here all these years for AJ. To be the reason he would know love. Her love. Just as she had known Lee's. At that moment she felt an arm trail across her own body, this one wrapping tightly around her stomach.

And just as she would now know Violets...


	2. Day to Come.

*

It wasn't the sound of chatter that made Clementine open her eyes the next morning, though there was plenty of it. It wasn't even AJ tugging at her arm for once.

It was a warm, bright light. Or rather the constant flickering of it on her eyelids. Like someone waving their hands at point blank range across her line of view.

She tried to ignore it but the accompanying argument made ignorance too tall an order.

"-And if you're so set on doing that, why don't you take it outside!" She heard Louis hiss, though he needn't have bothered to keep his voice down any longer, that ship had sailed.

"Nobody- allowed- to go alone." Aasim replied, panting through his words. Clementine groaned at this, realising what was happening. He was at it again.

"Y- you know you're going to do yourself an injury jumping around like that." Tenn piped up, still managing to sound his timid self.

"I'm gonna do him an injury long before that." Clementine felt the breath of Violets threat on the base of her neck. So she wasn't the only one disturbed from her slumber.

"I- have- to be- stronger! Fitter! Can't let- anyone- be taken again!" Aasim replied, struggling through his sentence. He hadn't been the same since the seige at the school. 

Clementine had heard the claims that his 'regime' was to make sure he was strong enough to keep Minnie and Sophie safe now they were back but she thought deep down that not being able to stop his own kidnap by Delta from Ericson was the true trigger.

"Look kid, sit the fuck down. Before I put you down. Hear me?" Lilly's snarl echoed around the inner wall of the tower. Things were about to get a lot more heated, the only time this group united in agreement was in disagreement with anything Lilly said.

"You're in no position to be making threats, ya damn homicidal bitch!" Louis spat. "Stay out of it."

Clementine pryed open her eyes and pushed herself up on her elbows. The hatch was sitting open, allowing sunlight to bathe everyone inside. Aasim hadn't stopped doing his jumping jacks despite the brewing altercation. 

Sophie, Minnie and Tenn sat huddled together like they had since they'd been reunited, closer than a trio of limpet mines. James was nowhere to be seen, but that wasn't strange, Clementine assumed he was out for a stroll with the walkers.

What did trouble her was AJ's absense however.

Lilly was about to set upon Louis with a torrent of hate but Clementine interjected before she got that far.

"Where's AJ? Where is he?" She re scanned the room and was working up to a panic before his familiar voice echoed down from above.

"I'm up here." Clementine got to her feet and brushed past Aasim's flailing arms to climb the ladder to the outside.

Bobbing her head out into the slight breeze, she shielded her eyes from the suns glare and saw Aj sitting with his back to her. His small frame was cross legged and facing the mountain range.

"AJ, you know you can't come up here. Not without me." Clementine asserted.

"I'm sorry, they were piss- I mean, they were shouting. I didn't like it."

"I know, kiddo. There's a lot of that lately, huh?" AJ span himself around to face her, his legs still crossed. 

"It doesn't stop. Even when you go. Why can't she look after herself? She's bigger than me. I want to come with you." He was right about it not stopping, in fact it had continued the second she had finished asking where AJ was.

Clementine could tell he was going stir crazy down there with the likes of Lilly and Aasim at each others throat. The latter of which simply refused to go with the more capable group members to scavenge for food for the others as it meant leaving Lilly alone with her one time hostages. 

There was no doubt it was reprehensible for her to take Minnie and Sophie to fight her war but if Clementine could speak her mind without being lynched, she'd have to say they didn't seem particularly worse for the experience. Clementine even figured they were better survivors now.

"I know you do. Look, I'll bring you back something today. I'll make it worth the wait. Just a few hours. Can you do that for me?" She asked hopefully. 

AJ pouted, he looked adorable as he did so and yet it made Clementine feel immense guilt at keeping him couped up 24/7. He came to a decision.

"I can do that. But make it real good okay?" He asked.

"I'll do my best, Kiddo."

"Can I sit it up here? Until you go? It smells in there." Clementine knew exactly what he meant. It was a strong damp smell that clung to the pannelling inside and she was glad to be able to get away from it for a few hours each day. She wasn't going to begrudge him the same courtesy.

"Sure. Just please, sit still. I don't want you to fall." He smiled at her consent to stay put and she smiled back.

Clementine noted then that the argument had seemingly petered out below and couldn't help but wonder if one of them had beaten the other into unconsciousness in order to achieve that.

Practically everybody wore a foul look when she returned to their level. But they were quiet and Clementine dared not even question how they managed to get to that point without spilling blood first.

Aasim had even stopped the jumping jacks, he was slumped in a corner, gassed. Clementine rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she sat back down, greeted by Violet holding a steaming cup out in her hands.

"Morning, Clem. I, uh, figured you're going to need this before we go later." Clementine took the coffee with one hand and threaded her fingers through Violets with the other. 

Finding the gas stove in the ruins of a ravaged tent had been a life saver quite literally. Being able to purify the water they had been drinking from the Allegheny river had likely prevented all sorts of waterborne diseases.

She brought the mug to her lips and drank deeply, instantly feeling better as the warmth spread through her, it was like medicine. Medicine she craved the more she was able to experience it. Side glancing she saw Violet shaking her head with a smirk fully formed on her face.

"What?" Clementine asked.

"Oh nothing. I've just never seen anyone make love to a cup of coffee before is all."

Clementine tried to protest Violets comment without stopping the inhilation of her coffee, causing her to choke a little of it back into the cup. Violets smirk dovetailed with feigned repulsion at this before laughing along with her response.

"That. Is disgusting. You're completely hooked on that crap by the way!"

"Am not!" Clementine defended as she put the mug down to her side, knowing full well Violet had her addiction pegged.

"Yeah? You couldn't stop if you tried, Clem. You're like 90% coffee at this point. A coffee machine, if you will."

"I could too. I could pour this away and not touch another drop." Clementine lied through her teeth. Louis scoffed disbelievingly from across the room.

"Naw, I gotta go with Vi on this one. You shake like you've got a warped case of jazz hands after a few days without that stuff." Louis mocked her then, waving his hands back and forth erratically.

The rest of the group sans Lilly errupted in laughter at his impression, but Clementine didn't mind being the butt of the joke if it lifted the mood any. Louis was still good for that.

She stood up in faux defiance, cup in hand, outstretched.

"Is that a challenge?" She asked.

"You know what? I do believe it is, Clementine!" He responded.

"And the stakes?"

Louis scratched his chin for a minute, scheming. But Violet beat him to it, standing beside Clementine with terms of her own instead. She raised two fingers in a peace sign.

"Two weeks. That's how long it takes to get clean right?-" she started.

"Two weeks to get it out of your system. A lifetime to keep it out." Lilly elaborated. Naturally everybody ignored her and Violet continued as such.

"So two weeks without coffee." Clementine winced at the thought of such torture. She hadn't started drinking the stuff any more than a couple months before but she had tried to consume it day and night since. However she wasn't one to give anyone the satisfaction of her backing down from a challenge.

"And if I win?" She asked the room. It went quiet then, there weren't exactly many prizes worth having these days. Louis was the one to answer first this time.

"How about an evening of entertainment presented by yours truly!? Some of my classic works played exclusively for you. And for one night only, the return of legendary duo, Louis St. Louis and Minerva!" He announced proudly. Clementine crossed her arms, tapping a finger while she waited for more pursuading.

"And, a banquet! One Henry the VIII would be green for! Aasim will catch the most elusive of game! Speaking of which! Games! Cards! Pethaps another dose of Truth or Dare? Hell if you stave off coffee for two weeks I'll get in that river butt naked and perform some aquatic dance moves!" He finished incredulously. Muffled sniggering from the twins followed.

"Uhhh, you've got yourself a deal, Louis. Provided you remove that last one. Nobody needs to be scarred for life here..." Louis looked wounded by Clementine's insult for a split second before covering it up.

"Cold! But fair. Now shake!" He said. Clementine tipped the cup of coffee slightly allowing it to pour onto the floor, grimacing at the loss. Then she grabbed Louis' hand firmly and pulled him closer, putting on a fierce look which he mirrored.

The group played along, whooping and jeering at the 'confrontation' they saw before them.

"See you on the court!" Louis said, letting go of her grip and backing off back to his corner, a big grin across his face.

"That doesn't make any sense, Louis you moron." Violet said scathingly. He shrugged, clearly content with his performance, breaking out into a fake boxing match with the air. It drew the attention away from Clementine as Violet spun her around to face her, leaning in to whisper in her ear.

"Just so you know, my prize will be a little more, R-rated." 

Violet then pecked Clementine on her blushing cheek quickly and pulled away, but Clementine gripped the sleeve of her tattered jacket with a reveal of her own.

"And just so you know" She said. "My only addiction, is you."


	3. Road to Atone.

*

It was time to go. 

Louis, Violet, Minnie and a returning James had already packed up and left to climb down the tower, with Clementine yet to join them. She had retrieved AJ from his perch and Sophie, Tenn and Aasim sat together as far away from Lilly as possible.

Clementine threw her backpack over her right shoulder and knelt down to say goodbye to AJ. He sat staring at the cover of a book she had picked up recently for him to practice reading. He had been struggling with the words in it.

She regretted not being able to teach him as much as she would like anymore but between keeping him fed and keeping the peace it had become a challenge she was failing at.

"I don't like this book, Clem. The words are too big. I can't do it" AJ bemoaned. Clementine really didn't want his interest in learning to wane, it was still important, even now.

Looking around at her options, she was thin on the ground. Aasim was back in the zone and Sophie was helping Tenn draw a mural on the wall of the tower. Clementine would have usually sent AJ over to them while she was there to keep an eye on things but she didn't want to risk it with her gone. He didn't play well with others. Not that her only option left did either.

She drew a deep breath.

"Wait here, Kiddo." She told AJ, turning and walking over to a perpetually sulking Lilly, trying to lie comfortably off her injured shoulder. It didn't look like she was particularly succeeding.

"Hey, Lilly?"

"What?" She replied agitated.

"Can you help me with something?" Lilly let out a hollow laugh, sitting up and caressing her arm gingerly.

"Help you? This'll be good" Clementine couldn't stand Lilly's unappreciation but bit her tongue, this needed to go her way.

"I have to go out. AJ needs to read, but he's struggling. I wouldn't ask but-" Lilly cut her off before she had chance to finish her plea.

"Ha! You want me to teach that little fucker? Do I look like a babysitter to you?"

"Please, Lilly! I don't want him to get behind. He needs to know-"

"How to take someone out! How to shoot!" Lilly snarled. Aasim called out as he paused mid press-up -

"Oh trust me, AJ has no trouble taking someone out. Hey, AJ?" AJ looked down at his feet at this mention of his past.

"Shut the fuck up, Aasim. AJ don't listen to him." Clementine defended. "Look Lilly, please. You're not doing anything till your shoulder heals anyway."

"And you have to at-tone!" AJ accused over Clementines shoulder. Lilly did a double take before replying.

"What the hell is he talking about?"

"Atone. Like, get forgiveness." He explained, Lilly continued to blank him and instead address Clem.

"I know what it means. And I don't need forgiveness from anybody!" She protested. Clementine sighed at her stubborness.

"Delta's gone, Lilly. And everyone in it. You're with us now. And you can be as pig headed as you like but I put my fucking neck out for you, because I knew you once. And I knew there was something worth saving. Don't prove me wrong. You know as well as I do that making it on your own now is virtually impossible. Nobody wants you here because of what you did to their home, Lilly. You DO need to atone. Make a start and sit with my son while he reads! Please?"

Clementine finished. It felt good to get that off her chest, and it seemed to actually get through to Lilly, for the time being anyway. She scowled as she looked Clem in the eyes, her own sunken in, cheekbones more pronounced than in Clementine's foggy childhood memory.

"Fine. But this doesn't mean shit. It's all going to be for nothing when he brings you down, Clementine." Lilly said through gritted teeth.

"Thank you, Lilly." Clem said, choosing to ignore everything after the first word of her response. "AJ? Come here. Lilly's going to watch you okay? While you read."

Clementine could tell AJ was fearful of Lilly still as he wandered over, book limp in his hand. She crouched to his level and put her hands on his shoulders.

"Don't forget my present. You promised." AJ reminded her. She smiled at his wish and nodded.

"You be good then. I love you, goofball." She embraced him into a tight hug as he replied.

"Come on, Clem! You know I don't like that anymore." He said, recieving a kiss on the forehead from her before she stood at her full 5ft 1 inch.

"And that's why I only use it when I tell you I love you."

"You tell me that all the time."

"Yeah I do."

Clementine slid a shiv into her boot and hiked herself up and out of the hatch. Then she waited for a moment while AJ settled. Lilly stared back at Clementine, who noticed a raw sadness flickering over her pallid features. Their eye contact broke when AJ started to read.

It was only a few moments, but when Lilly looked back up, Clementine was gone.


	4. The Roadhouse Rendevous.

*

Minerva had been the one to lead them there. She had called out in her deep, gravelly voice from a couple hundred feet in front as the other four had been straggling behind for a good mile. Clementine had struggled to identify with the seemingly unlimited energy she possessed since she had joined their ranks.

She stood atop the shell of a burned out car as they caught up, a scorching sun at her back. She had taken her jacket off to combat the heat and tied her normally loose and low hanging shirt up to reveal an impressive albeit pale midriff.

It was hard for Clementine not to be envious of her physique. Especially when Violet had once had the pleasure of enjoying it. Not that Clementine was particularly critical of her own considering the constant running from walkers over the years had left her with a slim if under nourished figure.

She pulled her eyes away when she realised she was staring, instead focusing them to the place Minnie's outstretched arm pointed.

"It's a roadhouse!" She exclaimed. Violet rolled her eyes.

"Exactly. It served meat! Any food in left in there is going to be rancid, Min." Violet said irritated at another let down. They were now miles further out than their searches had previously taken them and so far had only scraps to show for it.

"Well what about peanuts and shit? Fucking trail mix and that?" Minerva fumbled.

"I guess..." Clementine said, stomach moaning, she hadn't eaten properly in days, having given AJ the majority of her meals. At that moment Louis slapped his hands together loudly, an epiphany forming.

"And that's not the only thing these places used to sell" He half belted out, taking off toward the dilapidated restaurant with Clairles thrown over his shoulder and his coat tails whipping behind.

"That's the spirit!" Minnie replied, leaping off the roof of the car, hitting the ground running.

"I guess we're checking out the roadhouse then." Clementine said, before pulling the rim of her baseball cap down to further shade her face from the sun's sweltering gaze.

Though she, Violet and James were quite content to continue dragging their feet as they followed. Violet took the opportunity to hold Clementines hand now Minnie was out of view. 

The two had tried to keep any affection to a minimum out of respect for her feelings but she had been taking things strangely well. Clementine had expected nothing but a burning hatred in Minnie's eyes every time theirs met but it just wasn't there, which was all the more unsettling.

They arrived at the threshold just in time to see Louis upswing Chairles and decapitate a walker that promptly fell to the ground with a smash, the force of which ripped one of its arms from its socket.

"Niiiiice!" Minnie laughed, pulling an arrow from the eye socket of another. She was a crack shot with her apt choice of weapon, the mini bow. James, wearing his walker mask made a somewhat involuntary murmur at witnessing this.

"I think I will go keep watch" He said, turning about face and exiting back through the main doors. Mini shook her head after he'd left.

"What's his deal?"

"It gets to him. He saved me once from Lilly by sending a horde to distract her and Abel. Told me he struggled to do it." Clementine explained, although Minerva was having non of it.

"Uh, he's wearing one of their faces!" She replied exhasperated.

"Don't mean he killed it." Louis piped up from behind the bars counter he had taken to rifling under.

"Regardless. He cut the face off one of those things so he could stitch it up and play Hallowe'en! Doesn't seem very respectful to me." Minnie countered.

"Let it go, Min." Violet pleaded half heartedly. Minerva searched her face, then puffed out her cheeks, looking like she wanted to carry on but relenting instead. Violet still had some pull with Minnie, which came in handy against her bullish personality.

"Whatever." They turned their attention to Louis now. Clementine hiked herself up on a badly buckled stool and onto the worn, dusty bar top, peering over to see his lanky frame hunched under some shelving.

"What are you looking for?"

"Something!" He replied, avoiding a straight answer. Seeing Clementine's fed up reaction he continued. "Just go look around, I'll let you know if I find any."

"Any what!?" Violet demanded, but Louis fended her off again.

"Let's not go round in circles here." He replied, standing up and heading through a door to the back. Violet sighed before heading toward the same doorway.

"Better go babysit the tool" she lamented before leaving Clementine and Minnie alone to search the front end.

Rows of rustic tables and slide in seating crowded the area, parallel and separated by thick timber panelling. Clementine was actually surprised that any of it was still intact considering the potential for ready made burning wood.

"Better get to it then." Clementine announced awkwardly. Minnie only smirked in return, though Clementine couldn't make out the intention behind it.

Louis had already searched behind the bar so Clementine avoided going over it. There was unlikely anything edible out front either, that would have been picked clean, if anything that would be in the back where Violet and Louis had disappeared to.

But the uncomfortable silence had her looking in the booths anyway, maybe she could find a pack of matches, a shaker of salt to flavour their meals with. It didn't matter. She peered subtly behind her to see that Minnie had started over the other side.

Predictably there was nothing to find as Clementine moved through each booth, pushing her hand down the back of the seats for anything that may have worked it's way down there pre apocalypse. Though whatever it was had probably long exceeded it's consume by date by years.

Low on energy reserves Clementine started moving around on all fours as she searched, it saved her back from having to constantly crouch under the tables. Her mind drifted back to the others, to AJ. She hoped he was okay, with having to stay put without her.

Normally she would let him come on runs, continue to teach him how to survive for when the time came she no longer could, but AJ still had a lot to learn and Clementine didn't quite trust herself right now to be able to protect him and herself and Violet from the many evils the world contained.

She was too drained, too tired to be fully aware, and that scared her. She had never doubted herself when it came to AJ before, but the last few weeks had brought it on. And though James' words the previous night had instilled some of that confidence back, it still nagged at her insides.

Rounding the bend to the next booth she almost jumped out of her skin, coming nose to nose with Minerva, her fierce grey eyes so close to Clementines that it sent her own cross eyed as they tried to adjust to the invasion. She threw herself backwards onto her backside, glaring at the fear Minerva had put into her.

"What was that?" She accused, Minerva returned the same smirk she had done earlier.

"Just looking." She replied, unmoved from the position she had assumed to surprise Clementine. "Like you."

"What are you talking about?" Clementine replied indignantly.

"I don't blame you. I was fishing, a little." Minerva said, her lip curling at Clementine's uncomfort. The latter didn't reply for a few moments, unsure of how to respond to Minnie's assertion.

"Again, I don't know what you're talking about." She said stubbornly.

"Only natural" Minerva pushed. Clementine tried to get to her feet at this, but when she tried using one of the booth seats to take her weight it slipped out of place and she bumped back down to the ground with a dull thud.

Minerva, who was up on her knees at this point started to laugh, but it soon turned into complete excitement as she clambered over to Clementine, leaning over her legs and peering into the hollowed out seating.

"Holy fuck!" She gasped, pushing the rest of the seat off of it's perch to the floor. "We just hit the motherload!"

Clementine slid herself out from under Minnie quickly and joined at her shoulder to see for herself. Her eyes lit up like the fourth of July weekend.

It was a packed cache of foods, fully preserved by the looks of them. Canned beans, bags of Pasta, dehydrated fruits. Even a few bars of Pemmican were on the menu.

However it was something else that seemed to have Minnie on the verge of tears. Twinkies. And enough to go around.

Her uncharacteristic squeal had Clementine throwing her hands over her ears and Violet crashing back through the door with panic all over her face, hatchet in hand.

However upon scanning the room quickly and seeing a beaming Minnie looking over her shoulder, Violets look of panic turned to decidedly miffed. She embedded her hatchet with some force into the bars dust covered top.

"What the fuck, Min! I- I thought you were in trouble!" Violets eyes flickered to Clementine's as she said this.

"Well I'm flattered, Vi, I really am. But no need to be my saviour" Minnie replied scathingly. Violet frowned and crossed her arms as she did in most of her states, whether it be sad, annoyed, or unsociable.

"Are you going to tell me what the screeching was all about?" She asked indignantly.

"This BEAUTY!" Minnie shouted. Violet looked perplexed and Clementine had started to go red in the face before Minnie held up a twinkie in each hand, aloft in victory.  
The change in sudden awkwardness to a realization of what Minerva meant had Clementine and Violet burst into stifled laughter, although the formers was out of sheer nervousness.

"Oh, and Clementine found it. She can take the V for this one." Minnie flashed a wicked smile at Clementine before patting her on the back.

"Let's just get this back, take as much as we can." Clementine said, taking off her backpack and opening it up on the floor. Violet wandered over, a subdued elation radiating from her, likely still annoyed at the fear Minnie's outcry had filled her with.

She got to her knees too and the three of them began packing as much into their bags as possible. Minnie would holler every time she discovered another twinkie in the crowd of food they sought to leave bare.

Their backpacks were almost filled to ripping point when Clementine noted that Louis hadn't made an appearance when Violet had.

"What's he doing back there?" She asked.

"He still won't tell me. He's down in the storage cellar right now. Every time I ask he just breaks out into some Stupid Spanish song. En El Cielo, uh, No-"

"En El Cielo No Hay Cervezaaaàà!!" Louis boomed theatrically as he re-entered the doorway from the back, almost as if the mention of his name had had his ears burning.

His hands sat concealed in his pockets, clearly content with whatever he had found and waiting for the right question to be asked before he revealed the secret within.

"And in English?" Clementine asked, letting him have his moment before they one upped him with their own haul.

"Why I'm glad you asked, Clementine! En El Cielo No Hay Cerveza! Also translated as 'In heaven there is no beer!'" His sentence was followed by him whipping out two bottles of honey coloured liquor from his coat. "And so tonight, we drink!"

His infectious smile flashed across his lips then, scanning the faces of his comrades for affirmation that what he'd found was to their liking.

"That's what you were going mad for?" Violet asked incredulous. Louis geared up to reply, that is until he spotted Minnie holding the same twinkies she had waved Violet onto a few minutes before. What was impressive to Clementine was how Louis' smile managed to grow even wider than it already was.

"There is a god!" He cried, clambering over the bar top to join his friends in their elation. Louis set his bag open revealing a few more bottles of the stuff he had concealed in his pockets. Seeing Clementine's somewhat muted judgement he tried to reassure her.

"Don't be looking at me like that. We're gonna need this stuff for our bountiful banquet! That is unless you're ready to give in already? Missing that sweet smell of morning brew, Clementine?" He raised one eyebrow waiting for her response.

"Hell no!" She said determined. She hadn't yet even had time to think about what she'd be missing during the upcoming weeks. Quitting coffee was a good move regardless of the stakes Louis had set out, Clementine didn't need that preying on her system when there was enough for her to worry about keeping her body safe from.

There was still food left by the time they'd stuffed all they could into their bags, the zips working overtime to keep it all contained. They all shared a look of despair at the potential of having to leave some behind.

Minnie snapped her fingers.  
"Hey, what about the weirdo? He's got something to fill right?"

"It's James." Clementine said, angry at Minnie's rudeness. "And yes, he does. But there's still going to be some left by the time we've got what he can carry."

"Well, maybe we've got enough, you know? I mean this is obviously someone's stash right? We could leave some behind. Maybe come back in a week or so and if it's still here then we know we're good for it?" Violet posed to the group. Louis wasn't hot on the idea.

"And what if we come back and it's not here? What if we come back and there's a group of mercs out for our heads for what we're taking now? No? We either get it all today or we live with what we take back."

"Louis is right, Vi, taking things from other people could be bad enough for the group as it is. It sure had it's consequences back when I was with Lee-"

"No more story time with Clementine, Clementine! You've got an anecdote for everything." Minnie cut across. "Look, Louis is right and we find a way to take it all today. Go get the kid and we'll scout for something to carry the rest okay?" She finished.

Clementine frowned, she was about done with Minerva's emotional whiplash so she got up to retrieve James. Louis stayed with the already gathered supplies while Violet and Minerva retreated to the store room again.

The sun scorched her forearms the second she left the roadhouse. She lifted one to shield her eyes while looking for James but he wasn't immediately traceable. 

There were a couple of walkers shuffling their way past the littany of parked cars to her far right but they didn't have James' gait. Dismissing them she pulled off her hat to loosen it a little, the sweat in her thick black hair was making the tightness of it itch.

Running a loose strand over her ear she noticed just how long it was getting, so putting the cap back on she made a point of pushing as much of it as she could up underneath.

Calling out for James could draw the walkers from up ahead but she didn't feel like wandering too far out from the others on her own either. Then she remembered his penchant for heights. He had actually been the one to suggest the water tower as a safe house so to speak.

She turned around and tilted her head up. Sure enough he was there, though he had his back to her and his boy band like mop of hair was visible to her indicating he wasn't wearing the mask. She called up to get his intention.

"James? We got something. You wanna come down and give us a hand?" It seemed like an eternity before he made a move to join her back on the ground. He still wore a sulk behind his eyes. Not that he was ever the happiest guy at the table. Who was these days.

He was holding his walker mask limp in his left hand. He handed her the bag off his back, an action that said he didn't want to follow her back inside.

"James, I know you prefer to find other ways but we have to think about ourselves here. There's not always time or- or a rock to distract them with..." Clementine pleaded.

"I know. Sometimes it's neccessary. I just don't like the way they do it. Like sport." He said, glumly. It was hard for Clementine to empathize with James as much as he wanted her to. She could indulge him to a point, thinking of loved ones being decapitated by Chairles was upsetting but beyond that they were just an every day obstacle now. They didn't have time to accomodate the lives of every expired walker they came across.

"Not everybody's like you, James. I admire how much you care about this an all because you've spent your life among them. But most of us have only ran from them. They've only got one thing on their mind and we're not going to be dinner for anyone. If we could get by without needing to worry it'd be fine. But we can't." Clementine said, trying to get through to him.

"What if you can?" He asked, tentatively. She had started to respond until he lifted his second face up to her line of view.

"You want us to wear masks too?"

"I can make more. We can be safe. Just for when we leave the tower, or need to move. Through them."

Clementine entertained the idea for a moment, it would be easier and less messy than smothering their clothing in walker guts that's for sure.

"They wouldn't go for it. You'll never get the likes of Minnie, or Lilly wearing those things. They're not on board with that. At all." She said. But James still looked hopeful.

"I can make more. For us. Those willing. They would be protected then." He said. To a point Clementine thought. Wearing a walker mask came with the added risk of having your head blown off its shoulders by any of the living not in the know.

"We can put it to the group when we get back, okay? But for now we have to get back before dark. We're already pushing it." Clementine hastened, wanting the shade as beads of sweat were felt running down the small of her back. "You coming inside?"

James nodded, momentarily pursuaded.

Inside Louis had taken to spinning on his back on top of the tables causing Clementine to check if he'd popped the cap of any bottles while she had been gone. He hadn't. He was just being Louis. He stopped upon seeing them, sitting up straight quickly.

"Ah! I see the four of you have returned!" He exclaimed, going on to clarify when Clementine shot him a puzzled look. "I may be a little dizzy."

Clementine shook her head at his sillyness passively. She noticed Violet and Minerva hadn't returned and it immediately made her feel inexplicably panicked at their shared absence.

"What exactly is back there anyway? A massage parlour? You were in there for ages and now Vi and Minnie have disappeared too." She played down her irritation but Louis noted the scowl on her face.

"Worried they're getting a happy ending?" He taunted. She flipped him off and chucked the bag in his direction.

"Help James fill this up." She instructed, leaving them to follow the two girls' trail, her stomach churning with each step.

Clementine pushed through into the kitchen area. It was a big room, but dim with no windows to speak of, and the work stations had been tipped over during looting. Cooking utensils lay strewn about the floor, though notably absent of knives and frying pans.

She stepped her way over and between the destroyed kitchen toward what she assumed was a storage room. She had to keep her breaths slow as she got closer to where the two must be.

The door was closed and she hesitated to pull it open, listening to the conversation inside.

"What do we do?" Violet whispered. Minnie's voice came with a little less concern for prying ears.

"Why do we have to do anything? Nobody has to know but us. Just leave it in here and walk away."

"I can't keep it from them! If we don't say anything and they find out, Clementine finds out... what if it comes back to bite us?"

"Only Walkers bite, Vi. I don't know what the big deal is. This one ain't going to bite us. I promise." Minnie replied. "Fuck, Vi. You were never this fucking moral when I had you."

Clementine's stomach lurched at Minerva's last few words and she quickly threw the door open in reaction. What she found made her sick.


	5. Behind the Door.

*

Literally. 

She hunched over as it hit her and spewed what little she had left in her knotted stomach upside the bare stone wall inside.

"Hooo shit!" Minerva laughed from behind her sleeve, which had been pressed up to her block the stench of death from her nostrils. Violet back handed her in the side in response.

"Fuck off, Min!" Violet said from behind her own, leaving her side to join Clementine, rubbing her back in concern. She continued to dry heave as she tried to regain her bearings.

"Are you okay, Clem? Fuck." Clementine took a few seconds to answer, wiping the remnants from her lips with the flannel top she had wrapped around her waist. She wouldn't be wearing that anymore.

"Yeah. Ugh, sorry. It just caught me off guard" she half lied. Clementine had been around death long enough to stave off emptying the contents of her last meal at the smell of it. However the added worry of her false assumption had her feeling a certain tenderness that pushed her over the edge.

Violet helped her to her feet, holding her under the elbow to keep her steady. Minnie stood enjoying the scene before her, one hand on her hip.

A dead one lay at her feet. But this body didn't look decayed beyond recognition. No skin hanging from it's limbs, no inner organs on show. He hadn't turned. A bullet to the forehead had prevented that.

"Did he take himself out?" Clementine asked.

"Not unless he hacked off his own balls with a blade first." Minnie said matter of factly. "Poor bastard."

Clementine shuffled over to the dead man, his eyes glazed over, no longer of this world. Sure enough a mass of dried blood stained his once blue jeans, and more pooled on the floor beneath him.

"You think they took him out first?" Violet asked, looking sympathetic.

"Not likely." Clementine began. "I think if you do that to someone then you want them to suffer."

"Probably tried to put his dick where it wasn't welcome." Minnie spat. "Fuck him."

"You don't know that." Clementine said, though admittedly she was just playing devils advocate.

"Well then I guess somebody wanted a dildo for the road." Minnie said scathingly. She knelt down and began to pat at his pockets.

"How long ago do you think this happened? What if the person who did this is still around?" Violet asked nervously. Clementine hadn't seen her this unsettled in a while. The long day was definitely taking it's toll.

"Who knows, maybe a day or two? I've never stuck around a body long enough to know" Clementine replied, watching Minerva looking for loot.

"Which is why we should get this guy worked over so we can get out of here." She said, hot on Clementine's heels.

Minnie let out a puff as she pushed the dead weight over onto his front. She quickly patted his pockets and pulled out some folded pieces of paper before tutting and flinging it aside.

"Nothing" she muttered, getting to her feet and throwing her bow over her shoulder. "We should move."

Clementine had made a move to follow before Violet shouted for them to stall. Minnie turned quickly and Clementine about walked into her again.

"Careful" she said sarcastically. She looked her up and down while Violet was distracted reading what Minnie had discarded. Then she made a rather bold and frankly weird move that left Clementine speechless.

Keeping her eyes on Violet, she reached out quickly running a finger along the length of Clementines protuding collarbones which had been glistening with sweat from the muggy heat they'd all traversed the grounds of Pennsylvania in. Then she pressed it to her cracked lips, resuming eye contact with Clementine.

She stared dumbfounded at her brazeness. She wanted a reaction. And Clementine would have given her one  had Violet not interrupted the tirade about to leave her lips.

"Why is this guy carrying around a brochure? The Greenbrier." She started, puzzled. Reading on though she made sense of it. "Oh, it's a hotel... Did he seriously think there'd be anything to find there now?" Violet asked, not looking for an answer.

She unfolded the other paper in her hand, Clementine could see it was a map.

"He's marked some place in West Virginia. Up in the mountains. Looks like that's where this hotel is." She looked up, but Minnie had already dismissed it.

"Ah, well. Somebody saved him the trouble." She shrugged. "Like you say, it's bound to be rubble by now. Or infested." She walked off then without another word, indicating they should follow. Clementine hung back.

"It's probably not worth the trip. Everywhere falls sooner or later and that place looks like the kind of place people would have destroyed by now fighting over it." She said. Violet nodded but put the find in her back pocket anyway.

She made a point to leave but Clementine grabbed her arm.

"What is it?" She asked. Clementine wanted to say a lot in truth. They rarely had any real time to themselves since they were forced from the school. 

She felt a gnawing need to apologise for allowing the thoughts of any possible infidelity to cross her mind. Violet had never given her cause to doubt her faithfulness. 

Even if Minnie had shown a growing cavalier attitude to their relationship, moreso today than before. She should trust Violet not to risk what they had. Clementine decided not to bring her thoughts up. And she erred on the side of caution where the subject of Minnie was concerned.

She answered finally, Violet still looking into her eyes.

"Is Minnie okay? I mean, does she seem it to you?" Violet raised an eyebrow.

"She's as okay as I've known her to be since we got her back... why?"

"So she hasn't always been, I don't know, abrasive?" Clementine asked, dancing around the details.

"She always had her moments. We can all be difficult, I mean, she's worse since she got back but it's been hard for her. Coming back to us, Clem. I know I'd take it hard in her position. We - me and her, we were still a thing when Marlon let her get taken. You have to cut her some slack. She'll get over it in the end." Violet said.

Clementine searched Violets fatigued eyes. She considered pressing her point but decided to let it go. Today had been a strange one as it was and she didn't need the extra hassle.

Hell maybe Violet was right. Minnie was just acting out, prodding Clementine to a reaction she needn't give. The distractions were better ignored with all they had on their plate. Violet needed Clementines love, she didn't want Minnies anymore.

"I love you." Clementine said, her hand still over her mouth as the dead man continued decomposition face down on the floor.

"How romantic." Violet said in return, her words muffled. But Clementine could still the wrinkles form at the edge of her eyes as they accompanied a smile. "I love you too."

Clementine took the opportunity to plant Violets cold lips with a kiss, sickly breath an all, tilting her head slightly as Violet stood slightly taller. She expected her to heave at Clementine's breath, but she didn't. Instead her kiss was reciprocated as she wrapped her arms around Clementine's slim figure. It had to be love  she thought, smiling inward.

Clementine loved how much Violet managed to stay smelling so femininely sweet, completely at odds with her tomboy image. They were beginning to get lost in one another when Minerva's familiar deep boom echoed through to them from the kitchen doors.

"Come on! We're leaving!" 

Violet pulled away, smiling. Clementine still coming back from her daydream.

"Come on. We better get back. Getting it on in front of a dead guy is a little too kinky for me anyway."


	6. Lives in Limbo.

*

Nobody attempted to hold a conversation on the way back to base. All energy reserves were being spent on resisting the will to take the weight off their shoulders. It was dusk now and the waning light had their ears pricked for the sound of approaching walkers.

They'd passed a few solitary ones already and dispatched them with ease, but a pack would test them in their current state. Clementines back had become stiff and ached horribly with each movement, but adjusting the backpack every few minutes to keep pressure from intensifying in one spot was necessary.

It would be another twenty minutes before she felt the mood lift any as they rounded the corner to see the summit of the water tower come into view behind the bridge, silhouetted against a sky rapidly losing its light. 

Now they just had to navigate the underpass, the arches of which had been engulfed by it's own shadows.

Clementine held up an arm to signal the group to a halt, listening for a groan, an echo of something from the black, anything to help tip them off to danger. It was quiet. Using one of James' techniques she picked up a small rock the size of her fist and underhand threw it toward the underpass. 

As they waited she sensed the rest ready their weapons, most notably the tension of Minnie's bow as she held it back into position. But after the echo of the rock hitting the stone wall inside they heard nothing more. No disturbance. After a few moments more Clementine adressed them, her eyes still trained on the mouth of the bridge.

"Stay on your toes. Eyes sharp." She said, even though the lack of movement or sound suggested their passage would be safe. They all proceeded to move briskly forward, stepping over the imaginary line that ceased their ability to see around them. Clementine baited her breath, hoping to reach the other side as quickly as possible without incident.

Each step did nothing to alleviate the apprehension though. Clementine tried to ignore it, focusing her eyes over to where the looming shadow of the bridge met the orange hue projected from the setting sun. 

Louis was the first one to reach the other side holding Chairles like a baseball bat, and they all would have breathed easier for his emergence unscathed had they been given chance.

A jarring scream, high pitched and female echoed from across the way, the car park that backed up to the water tower. It had caused Minnie to let slip her grip on the arrow she'd had primed and Clementine saw it rocket past Louis' gut by inches, ricocheting off along the concrete.

Before anybody could get their bearings Minnies bag had slammed to the ground, and she was running towards the Tower, shouting her twin sisters name.

The rest followed suit, dropping their bags where they stood, and taking off to chase Minnie down as fast as their lead like feet allowed. Her already shrinking figure closed in on several others who seemed to dancing around each other. Clementine shot a quick glance up to the towers deck where a few of their ranks stood, yet she couldn't make out who.

However skidding to a halt at the scene of the commotion confirmed who it wasn't. Sophie and Tenn, hands held, were backing away from a relatively small horde of walkers, maybe 20 in number. Their options of evasion were not ideal as the Allegheny river awaited them at their backs, ready to take the two under if they got much closer.

Minnie, disregarding her own safety had already launched herself toward the horde after taking out one walker with an arrow to the head, realising that her reload speed wouldn't be quick enough to take them all out.

Louis and Violet had also moved into the fight but James was left watching the start of the massacre without a weapon of his own to defend himself with. Clementine fixed that problem immediately, removing the shiv from her boot and throwing it to his feet, he picked it up but she didn't stick around to see him have a crisis of concience.

Already loaded, Clementine got in closer to help take them out. She kicked the legs out from under one and stamped its skull into the mud by the banks where the fight was being held. Looking up to check on Violet she saw her damn near slice anothers face in half with her hatchet.

Minnie had rounded some of the walkers after felling a few to stand tall in front of her siblings who were now rocking on their heels by the waters edge. She had her bow raised once more, taking out the few she could until more help arrived.

Clementine moved toward another skeletal like target as it noticed her, pumping the shotgun and firing off a round that had the snarling skull of the walker explode into pieces on the floor. It fell backwards, taking out another walker on its way down, giving Clementine time to thumb two more rounds into her shotgun.

Or so she thought.

A weak grip curled around her shoulder, a coldness sweeping throughout her bones at it's touch. The panic had her lurching forward trying to escape its clutches, but she felt her knee lock, sending her face first to the floor, the corpse following her down. This was it. 

She was about to leave behind AJ, and she'd never had the chance to ask Violet to watch over him when this inevitably happened. And she'd never get the chance to feel her embrace one more time before her neck muscles ended up on the outside. Would they put her down? Would there be anything left of her to even put down? 

Lee. Kenny. Christa. Chuck. Luke. Even Jane. Would she see them again? She had always hoped there would be something to come after this world, that the people who had given their lives for hers went on to a safer place after suffering the hell on this side. But she could never really believe it inside. She guessed she would know soon enough.

It was funny. All of these thoughts and questions should have been racing through her mind front and centre. But all she could focus on was the searing sting in her palm, radiating along her forearm. The one she had just used to break her fall and now was full of small stones cutting up the skin along it.

The walker slammed its head into the back of hers, causing a violent ringing in Clementines ears, but nothing more followed. She took the apparent momentary disorientation of the walker to push with all her might. Flipping herself onto her back, pushing it off to her side. She reached for her shiv but it was no longer there and her shotgun was too far out of reach.

She straddled the walker ready to knock its skull from its shoulders but it didn't fight. In fact it was completely unresponsive. Dead. And not living dead.

What was left of its brain leaked out the side of its skull, a bullet sized hole the source of its expiration. Clementine did not have time to ponder her confusion of who saved her life. It didn't matter for the moment though she suspected it had come from above. 

Walkers littered the floor as Clementine dragged herself to her feet, squinting to see the rest of the fallout. Minnie was still standing large in front of Sophie and Tenn but had taken to keeping the walkers at arms length by using her bow as a pick axe. Violet had just just dispatched another and Louis was struggling to remove from the floor, beneath which the head of a walker had once lay. 

Thundering steps came then from behind her, but the speed of them meant Aasim whizzed past her before she knew it was he they belonged to. He hurled himself toward the last few walkers as they swiped at Minnie's chest.

"Move!" He shouted. Minnie had barely registered his presence before she was able to grab her twin sisters hand, who in turn was still gripping Tenns tightly, and swinging the three of them to the right just in time, Tenns body completely off the ground as they did so. 

Aasim had tensed his shoulder, charging two walkers at once with all of his weight and sending all three crashing down into the river below.

"Aasim!" Violet shouted out shocked at what she had just seen him do. Everyone on the ground ran to the edge of the banks, scanning the splash ripples for any signs of life. What Clementine did know was that water would do nothing to incapacitate a walker.

"Oh my god, can anybody see him!?" Sophie squeaked, dithering at the ordeal they were still going through. Non of the siblings had let go of one anothers hands yet. Louis had thrown his long coat to the ground, ready to jump in after Aasim and Clementine would be damned if she wasn't willing to do the same for him after his selfless action.

She threw her hat to the ground beside her and jumped. Crashing through the surface of the rivee and holding her breath, the was no telling what swallowing any of the infected water would do to her.

Her hair immediately plastered itself against her face, obscuring her view. She pushed it away and began to move in the water somewhat aimlessly. She didn't know where the walkers were and staying in one place too long could see her suffer the same fate as Luke. His sinking to the depths of the icy lake tried to barge its way into her psyche but she batted it away. She needed to be here, now.

Louis splashed erratically near her, searching for Aasim, any sign of him. He held his breath too and dove underneath. There seemed to be no movement above the water so Clementine took a deep draw in and disappeared too. It was almost pitch black, the only thing lighting her way was the refracted rays off the moon which was her some guidance at least.

She couldn't hear a thing. The water blocked up her ear drums as she swam, keeping a watch for walkers as much as she was looking for Aasim. She felt her lungs compress the deeper she went, to the point that she felt the need to rise again to the top. Doing so she saw a set of legs directly above her and swam to join them. Breaking through the shimmering cieling she drew in air to full capacity.

Whipping around to see Louis or Aasim she was gravely mistaken. A gutteral sound emitted from its mouth, the water flaying what was left of the skin around its jaw and cheekbones as it did so. With no weapon to protect herself she lifted her feet up and kicked out, hitting the walker in its gut and knocking it out of reach, she herself then drifting away.

She turned onto her front at the first opportunity to see more turmoil happening back near the shoreline. Rippled disturbance in the water lead to two more bodies floating toward a dipped part of the banks that met exactly level with the rivers edge. She heaved her body toward it, willing the burning in her muscles to stop so she could reach land.

Louis and Aasim made it first, the rest clamboring to get a grip on them so the two semi lifeless bodies could be pulled up onto the mud. There was a visceral panic in the group that Clementine hadn't experienced from the majority of them before. They were all down on their knees as she pulled herself, nails in the dirt up out of the water. 

She was met immediately by AJ.

"Clem!!" He cried, as she laid on her back gasping for air. He tried to sit her up but she was far too heavy and limp. Her head span, water still blocking her ears somewhat, so with the last bit of energy she had she turned onto her side and bumped her head lightly on the floor.

The water trickled out and the voices could now be distinguished.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!" Minnie shouted. "Come on Aasim! Don't you fucking do this! Wake up!" She cried.

"You gotta give him mouth to mouth! His lungs are full of water!" Tenn pleaded. Clementine couldn't see what was going on with them as she lay there, not least because AJ had taken to holding onto her for dear life, an almost vice like grip trying to keep her awake. 

But she couldn't. She was slipping away, the brief clarity she had had in sound was becoming muffled once again. And her eyes were closing, her mind shutting down against her wishes. Every blink felt like she was snap shotting the last image she would ever see on a roll of film. Louis on his back in the distance, Violet hunched over him, her back to Clementine.

Her hearing went almost completely after AJ called out her name desperately, his small hands holding either side of her face. They were unbearably cold, but so was she. The mention of her name with such panic had Violet turn her attention to Clementine at the last second she could see. Her eyes closed then, AJ and Violets faces imprinted behind her eyelids as she lost the fight.

Then there was a spluttering. And she fell away, leaving conciousness behind.....

 

CLEMENTINE'S STORY WILL CONTINUE, NEXT TIME ON THE WALKING DEAD.


	7. By the Banks.

*

She blinked back swirling thunderstorms swarming her mind, the fragmented haze that had come with them receding to the point where she could make sense of the world around her as it trickled back into focus. Slowly.

While the edges of her vision continued to flicker and evade her, she instead concentrated on the already rebooted senses. The voices. She could hear Lilly apologising. Maybe she was still dreaming.

"Ah, fuck. Hold him, I gotta get this shit up! If it's not already too late. I'm sorry for this, kid." Clementine turned her head a little to find the scene, realising in the process that she was no longer lying on her side. She was propped up, her upper body resting on somebodys thighs.

The slight movement was met with a soft touch, running fingers through her hair, which still dripped onto her shoulders.

"Oh, thank god. Welcome back, Clem. AJ, she's awake - No, give her a minute, let her rest" Violet said, but Clementine reached out anyway, swaying her hand as it searched for AJ to take it. He obliged, holding it tightly but not saying a word, he didn't get chance to.

An inordinate amount of retching followed the moment and Clementine squinted hard to see the source of it. What she saw was rather disconcerting as a blurry Lilly knelt at Aasims side, fingers impelled to the back of his throat.

"Come on, kid, don't fight! You need to get your stomach up! Everything!" She said fiercely, appearing to twist her wrist in the process, probably searching for a grip on his tonsils. Whatever she was looking for she found it.

Clementine watched through frosted glass as Aasim bent double, breaking free of Sophie and Minnies restraints, and making some pretty disturbing noises as he emptied out whatever he had swallowed over the course of that day. Which thankfully for Lillys sake couldn't have been much.

Still, she withdrew her hand rapidly at his evacuation, cursing in disgust.

"Ugh, fuck! Fucking disgusting!" She said, lashing her hand back and forth to shake off the excess bile Aasim had just chucked up. "This sure as hell better not be for nothing - hold him up again!"

Lilly continued to probe his throat and he continued to throw up in kind. But it wasn't something Clementine wanted to continue witnessing so she found a more comforting bit of scenery to take in.

She tipped her head upward. Violet wore a concerned smile, still massaging the hair back from Clementines forehead absentmindedly, tucking it over and behind her ears.

It tickled the base of her neck, prompting  Clementine to try and speak, but her throat was dry and it came out croaked.

"Cut it for me later? It's getting too long." She asked. Violet paused her caressing to answer as the retching from Aasim waned, almost empty.

"Sure, Clem. Buzzcut?" She joked, following up her sentence with a prolonged set of Z's.

"No way! She'd look like an egg!" AJ giggled at their side.

"You're not old enough to know what an egg is, little man!" Louis asserted out of view, his voice too sounded hoarse and tired. AJ countered.

"Uh, yes I do! They come from chickens! I read it in a cook book." He said stoutly.

"Ah, but did that book tell you which came first?" Louis teased, still finding humour wherever possible, even amidst poor Aasims plight. AJs confidence faultered as he began to ponder Louis' wormhole of a question.

"Come on, Louis. Let's not open that particular box." Clementine said, angling herself toward him. He sat cross legged and hunched within himself. Most his sodden clothes were in a pile on the floor, only a vest and pants to keep him warm against the whistling breeze she could hear picking up.

"Sure thing, Pandora." He said, shivering. Still slightly disorientated, Clementine tried to sit up with the intention of finding his long overcoat to warm his body up. In doing so she noted her own clothes set down in a crumpled pile, but she didn't dither as Louis did.

In fact she felt absurdly insulated considering the ferocity with which the trees tops bowed to the wind. Looking down she saw her figure encased in the very same coat that she had sought to locate for Louis. Buttoned up and covering the length of her self where she lay. Clementine let go of AJs hand to give the coat back to its rightful owner but her motion to do so was halted by Violet.

"No, Clem. You have to keep warm. You can't sit out here in your pants" She said. Clementine got restless with her response.

"And Louis can? It's his! I'll be fine." She tried to remove it once more but Louis wouldn't allow it either.

"Hey, no. Clementine, look. Tenn's getting a fire going. I'll be good in a minute. Besides, you look runway in that thing" He complimented her. But she wasn't happy, the ground beneath them was damp and Tenn would struggle to get anything rubbing together sticks.

"My lighter. It's in the tower. You can use that" She directed.

"I'll get it!" AJ offered, but Clementine grabbed his hand before he could get to his feet.

"No. Where's James?" She asked, looking for other options. Clementine didn't want him scaling the ladder with the current weather at play. She remembered her own ascent up high to be lookout for the cabin group when she was at least twice his age. How that could have ended up for her.

"He offered to go get the bags, its going to take him some time to drag them over." Violet said softly. Clementine had started scanning her immediate surroundings, when Lilly drew her attention by speaking again.

"Okay, I think we got as much as we're going to get. Sit him on his ass, head between his legs - breathe slow, kid." She said, shoulder still in a makeshift sling, although her movements were a little less rigid now.

Minnie sat rubbing Aasims back in a circular fashion, her only way of thanks in the moment, and willing him back to full health. Sophie looked lost in her own head by her sisters side. The spitting image of her twin, they were identicle down to the freckle count on their cheeks.

Same choppy, Auburn hair. Paled out skin. Same grey eyes, only sadder. Though they looked the same their personalities differed greatly, at least from what Clementine could glean from their limited interaction of the past couple of weeks.

Clementine brought her back, speaking softly. "Hey, Sophie? We need a fire, and Tenn's struggling. Do you think you could go grab my light? It's up in the tower. If we can get a fire burning down here then we'll be able to get warm and get back up inside."

Clementine saw the awareness return to Sophies gaze and their eyes met. She didn't try to feign a denial that she'd been somewhere else entirely as she replied though with a deadpan delivery.

"Yeah, okay." She glanced back at Aasim, looking guilt-ridden at being partly the reason for his current ailing state. Sophie rose slowly then, moving the short distance to the bottom of the water tower and beginning her climb toward her destination.

"We can't be out here all night." Lilly said.

"We can't get Aasim or Clementine up there in this state" Violet said, rebutting Lillys declaration. "Not to mention you're going to struggle-"

"-I'll be fine-"

"-And we have to get the food up there!" She added, finishing after Lillys attempted interruption.

"How much food are we talking? Good haul?" Lilly asked, the new subject had Clementine's stomach begging to be filled. Minnie spoke for the first time since Clementine had regained conciousness then. Her actions still intent on nursing Aasim.

"You have no idea. Five bags, fit to bursting. We're good for weeks, maybe a month. And there's more where it came from too. But we can't risk going back." She added, regret in her words.

"Damn. Why the hell not? You should have gotten everything" Lilly accused.

"Look, we took all we could. We had no way of bringing it all back"

"Okay, so we'll get the rest tomorrow"

"I told you we can't go back! Something wasn't right in that place" Minnie tried to explain. Clementine sensed the friction catching and spoke to stop it.

"Can we not right now? We can talk it out tomorrow morning. Things are fucked enough for us without more in fighting." She pleaded. Lilly glared at Clementine but must have known she was right as she didn't continue in that vein.

"Where's the shit?" She asked, standing and brushing herself down.

"By the bridge. We dropped them when we heard Sophie shout-" Violet began to explain but Lilly had already marched off to join James at being given the location of the loot.

About now would be where the group devolved into a mutual bitch fest about her, but nobody had the fortitude right now, not to mention her role in helping Aasim had likely earned her a nights reprieve.

The flames lashed around inside the perimeter that the group had set around the fire. It had taken merely a few minutes and even fewer attempts to take hold on the snapped up branches a couple of their number had gathered in the short absence between Sophies departure and return.

It couldn't be allowed to burn for too long when they were out in the open though, prime targets for more of the dead and other nefariously intentioned passers by. It burned only to get the water logged trio strong enough to scale the tower with minimal assistance.

Lilly and James had returned with the loot completely intact. Not even a drop of Louis' bourbon was lost in the haste to throw the bags to the ground earlier. They sat down, plugging the gaps left in the circle of survivors.

Predictably Lilly unzipped one of the bags to inspect the food inside, and to the untrained eye her expression remained perpetually loathing and uninviting.

But Clementine saw through it, years encountering people with all kinds of good and bad intentions had enabled her to learn to read many of the ways in which they betrayed themselves unknowingly to those who paid the attention it really took.

In Lillys case it was simply the fleeting softening of her jaw line. Which had only become more pronounced in the years the two had been separated. That would be the only recognition Clementine and co. Would recieve for their finds today.

"Here" she said, digging her hand inside and scooping up a fistful of the ready to eat twinkies. She threw them around the circle until everyone had one to consume. Clementine passed one to AJ and his little eyes lit up like she had rarely seen. 

He examined it back to front and even tried reading the ingredients but he wasn't that far along in his reading yet. Clementine made a note to ask how his time with Lilly had gone earlier, after he had the pleasure of tasting a Twinkie for the first time of course.

"Wow! Thank you, Clem! This present is amazing!" He half-shouted through his mouthful, sending bits of sponge flying through the air. It reminded her that she had forgotten to actually get him something earlier that day. Between Minnies come on and the dead body it had managed to escape her.

However AJs excitement deflated Clementine slightly. To know that a slim slice of cake and cream was the best thing AJ would likely experience in the food world for the rest of his life was saddening. Then again, if he was happy, Clementine would be thankful for that same slim slice of cake and cream.

"I'm glad you like it. You won't find too many of those things in the future though, kiddo. Savour it, okay?" She asked. AJ looked at her through his peripherals and nodded slowly, though his acknowledgement was dubious at best. Clementine knew it was already well on it's way to the other end. 

She laughed and bit into her own. Eyes rolling to the back of her head, she felt the sugar almost seep immediately through into her bloodstream. 

Violet fashioned the same smirk she had done when Clementine drank her coffee that morning, and she was beginning to think she'd never be able to overtly enjoy her consumables in peace ever again.

"Knock it off." Clementine said, pushing Violet off kilter. Violet pushed herself back up into her sitting position, rubbing her shoulder in feigned pain.

"Damn, Clem. One bite of a Twinkie and you're like King Kong with those arms!" She teased, feeling up her biceps in mock admiration.

"Yeah, and I can throw my shit at you too if you make me angry enough" Clem fired back light-heartedly. She could feel her strength and spirit returning with each loving interaction. Violets laugh charged her up some more.

The groups lifeforce as a whole seemed to be growing as Clementine fed off their shared smiles, laughter, and warmth from the flames that were admittedly whipping about in a wind that still hadn't subsided any. Louis had perked up too physically though he still sat in his under garments. He had taken to making shadowy shapes on the ground, illuminated by the fire. Tenn and AJ laughed at his dog impression, which was much more admirable than the cliche butterfly.

James sat within himself as usual, as did Lilly. She could tell she was just waiting for an opportunity to collar her over todays events. Clementine wasn't in the mood to tangle with her but she knew the pragmatist in herself wouldn't rest until she had hashed out the details of whether or not going back for the rest of the food was, well, practical.

Sophie and Minerva sat either side of Aasim, who hadn't yet noticeably recovered on the surface. He looked peaky in the cheeks and kept his eyes on the ground, either ignorant or simply unable to join in on the relatively gaeity after being probed by Lilly. That wouldn't be fun for anybody.

Despite Aasims state it was time to move. People were long overdue a rest that extended past sitting down on a muddy embankment. They needed to lay their heads. Find solace somewhere within their dreams if they could. Though Clementine knew the search for that place could be paved by many a nightmare.

The bloodshed at the Ranch still invaded hers on a near nightly basis.

Lilly was the first to set everyone moving. Ushering the fire to embers with handfuls of the dirt they had sat upon. Then deligating the rucksacks onto the backs of those capable of carrying the weight up the tower.

Minnie went first with Aasim, spotting him closely as he climbed glacially toward the summit. Sophie went next with Tenn, and then AJ with James following up the rear. Lilly waited for the last three, she was inadertently becoming the chaperone to the group without either side realising it.

Clementine looked down at her feet but they weren't there, the hem of Louis' coat  hung past them and lay in the mud. She started to unbutton it.

"Clem, what are you doing?" Violet said making an attempt to shield her from Louis' eyes Clementine assumed.

"This thing is too big, Vi." She threw out her arms but the end of the sleeves fell off her fingertips. "Look. I can't climb in this. I'm gonna miss a step and end up breaking my neck." Violet still seemed peturbed by Clementines state of undress continuing but relented whatever argument she had.

"Louis turn around." She said. Louis laughed, a perfect opportunity to poke the bear.

"Nope, I'm good."

"Louis! I'm serious. Turn around, you perv!" She replied aggressively. Louis revelled in her paranoia.

"Come on, Vi, I'm enjoying the show! Clem, give us a twirl!" He guffawed at the irritation in Violets face, she should really know better. By this point Clementine was standing in her bra and panties, and wished to not be any longer than she had to.

"Er, can we get a move on? It isn't getting any warmer out here." She asked, somewhat forcibly in noticing Lillys dimishing patience. "Here, Louis." She threw him his coat and he slipped his arms through the sleeves, saluting her and climbing skyward.

Violet grabbed Clementine in a hug and started rubbing her sides in an attempt to warm them up before she too had to make her ascent. It was nice holding her, and she wished they could continue, she even wished Violet could join her in near nakedness, but Lilly was making it decidedly awkward so she would have to keep that desire on the backburner.

"Uh, if you don't mind, I'd like to go up last. If you know what I mean." She requested. Lilly tutted and rolled her eyes at her remark.

"I think we're a bit far gone for modesty, Clementine." She said scathingly, but she about turned anyway and left the scene. Violet stepped back then. Eyes wandering over Clementines body, trying to be subtle in her appreciation. 

"Hey, eyes up here! Jeez, you lesbians are all the same." Clementine ribbed.

"Don't hold it against me, Clem. It's not like we get any privacy with those guys. I gotta take what I can get" She said, with more charm than was usual for her. Clementine understood but really did need to get out of the cold.

"Come on, let's go up." She said.

"Hold on" Violet started, reaching into her back pocket she pulled out Clementines worn hat. She ironed it back out to its regular yet raggedy condition and set it on Clementines damp scalp.

"I picked it up. I know you two go far back." She said, smiling. All the way back, Clementine thought. She kissed her on the nose in appreciation (though she felt silly in it standing there without much else on) and held her hand lovingly.

"I'll go first" Clementine winked at Violet, who blushed but stood aside, anticipating the view.

Lilly waited at the top for them both. The same stoney look Clementine was sure she had worn for the past eight years. Violet tried to lead Clementine to the hatch and their place on the floor but Lillys stare had her slip her grip. Lilly wanted to debrief. She was born military after all.

"Can you get AJ down? I'll be in soon." She said. Violet looked a little vexed that she would again be waiting on Clementine to join her in slumber tonight but she replied in the affirmative.

"Sure, Clem. Don't be long. You need the rest." Violet said. She kissed Clementine on the lips softly and climbed down out of view. It was only a few seconds before Louis' coat came flying up out of the hole. She put it back on, buttoning it up like before.

"Cute." Lilly said sarcastically. 

Clementine didn't dignify her jibe with a reply as she sat down with the last remaining member of the original group. Much like her hat, Lilly was the closest thing she had left to tether her to a time where she still had her innocence, and somewhat selfishly didn't have to rely on herself for protection.

"You going to fill me in or what? Why the fuck can't we go back?" Lilly said. Clementine drew a deep breath. It all seemed so distant, but she recalled the day back to the forefront of her mind. Starting with the body.


	8. The Revelation.

*

"So you're willing to give up more food reserves because of some dead guy in a store room? Don't be dense Clementine." Lilly argued angrily. Clementine had tried unsucessfully for the better part of the last ten minutes to adequately explain the groups concerns but Lilly was bullish in her advocacy to return there.

"It's not just some dead guy, Lilly. He'd been mutilated too, they cut off his dick." Clementine defended.

"So they had a grudge. Your point? He was holding a plethora of food in there, Clementine. He probably stole it, and whoever it was came looking for him. He wouldn't give it up so they had a little fun before they wasted him." But that didn't ring true for Clementine.

"I'm pretty sure the threat of losing your dick isn't worth holding onto a few twinkies for."

"Some motherfuckers are tougher than they are smart. Who's to say he didn't have more than himself to think about?"

"Then where are they?"

"The fuck should I know. All I'm saying is we need that food, Clementine. We got a lot today but it's still going to run out at some point. It's a bad move to just let it all go." Lilly said staunchly. 

"But what if they come back? What if they're sitting on the place? They have to know its there somewhere." Clementine posed. "We took a risk taking what we did. Do you remember, when we took the food from the back of that car? After leaving the farm?" She asked, testing the memory banks of Lillys mind.

"The station wagon? What does that have to do with anything."

"You won't remember, because we'd been separated by that point -" Lilly scoffed at Clementines choice of phrase but she ignored it. "That food belonged to a man, a family. I'm not going to bore you with the details but he came back and made trouble for us. He kidnapped me." She said, trying to make Lilly see sense. But her point again fell on deaf ears.

"That was a long time ago. You're a big girl now, Clementine. And I'm not going to go round in circles with you. If they - whoever the fuck that is - are sitting on the place then where were they today? Even if they were out, you said the body looked at least a day old. It'd stink the place out. They aren't going to live with him rotting away under their noses. He'd be thrown outside. Ergo, they ain't there no more." Clementine made motion to counter but Lilly shut her down raising her voice to continue.

"-And! If they are there then we'll take them out. We can all go out there and overpower the fuckers" Clementine felt her blood bubble at Lillys ignorance to past events.

"Really!? You want to take some more kids and send them to their deaths for your war!? You remember how that worked out last time right? Have you learned nothing? Are we just collateral to you?"

"We're a group. And we all have to learn to do unpleasant shit, Clementine. Lee protected you and look where that got him. Like I've said before, you're going to end up the same way. It's a different world and a different way now! You know kids used to work a couple hundred years ago? In Mines, up Chimneys. They were made to do everything adults did. That's how we have to be again. Contribute. Show worth. No time to mollycoddle when the world is a death trap, every day." Lilly finished making her case.

"I feel sorry for your childhood, Lilly." Clementine fired somewhat maliciously. There was no way AJ would be taken into danger so readily. Preparing him for survival was one thing, but sending him to his death was a whole other ask. She was sure Lilly could see to the demise of the rest of humanity herself given time.

"Yeah? Well don't. My Dad might have raised me with a firm hand but I'm still here because of it. He made me a soldier, prepared me for this shit show." Clementine didn't doubt she was right, and felt bad for speaking out of turn that way, as ignorant and entitled as Larry was.

Silence followed. Lilly did not sit, instead choosing to lean against the barrier that stopped her falling down to the ground. Her free arm stayed tucked behind the one she had injured. Clementine knew she was thinking of him, probably reliving the meat locker over again, and likely a source of many nightmares over the years. They would get nowhere before sun rise on the current subject so Clementine changed tact.

"Thank you for saving my life, Lilly." She said, sincerely. "I know it was you who shot that walker." Lilly looked down to where Clementine sat, likely searching for a way to accept the thanks in the most off-handed way.

"I did what I could from where I was.  Now you can stop holding saving me over my head. We're even." She said, intent on keeping tensions peaked, at least it seemed that way to Clementine. 

"I'd be dead if you weren't a dead shot. Seriously, Lilly. I'm forever greatful." Clementine pressed, hoping to massage Lillys ego enough to keep the peace.

"Like I said, I did what I could. It wouldn't have been so close if I had my shouler. I had to get the kid to balance the gun over the railing while I aimed."

"Aasim?" Clementine asked.

"No, your kid." Lilly corrected. Clementine felt immense pride at this. That he had had a hand in saving her life, however small. She would let him know of his heroics with the biggest of cuddles in the morning.

"Was he okay? Today I mean. With the reading." She asked.

"He should be-"

"I know, learning to survive. I'm doing that Lilly. Have been since he could walk! Just humour me, will you?" Lilly begrudgingly granted her request.

"He was fine. His thoughts were somewhere else with you gone but he can read well enough from where I stand. Considering everything else he has to worry about. Though I don't think having him read fairytales is wise. All he needs to know is how to read signs. To know where he is." She finished, sticking her two pence in.

"Thanks, Lilly."

"Yeah."

Clementine yawned wildly. The steel floor of the tower beckoned her, Violets touch the bigger draw. She had to get back on topic and hash things out fast.

"Look, Lilly, if I'm honest, i don't even think the food was the dead guys. I'm pretty sure he was just passing through." Clementine asserted.

"Yeah? And what makes you say that?" Lilly said, intrigued.

"He was carrying a map with him. Had an area marked but didn't seem to have a route planned out" Clementine said. "The leaflet we found with him advertised this hotel that seemed to be in the same area he had circled... we figured he was trying to get there. No idea why though." Lilly honed in on this.

"Hotel?"

"Well, resort, I guess. That's what Violet called it."

"What was the name?" Lilly asked intently, Clementine made a play to remember it though it seemed a fruitless endeavour.

"Uh, Green something. It's up in the mountains. I can't remember off the top of my head. The Green-?" Clementine trailed off but Lilly, whos eyes darted about upward as though trying to physically search the recesses of her brain found it.

"The Greenbrier?" She snapped he fingers in success, but it was apparent to Clementine she wasn't quite sure why it was in there.

"You been there?"

"No. Not that I remember. Fuck. Why do I know that?!" She said, rather confused. Clementine herself pondered potential reasons, though her brain wasn't exactly functioning at peak optimisation.

"Well, it said it was world famous..." Clementine fumbled. Lilly held a hand up for her immediate quiet. Squatting down to her level, head between her legs, deep in concentration.

"I- I think I remember my Dad talk about it when I was a kid. Or did I overhear it? I don't know. What the fuck." Lilly held her position, flailing internally for the answer that alluded her.

"If you overheard it then maybe you weren't supposed to. Like it was classified." Clementines last word was like hitting the jackpot on the slot machine that was Lillys realisation of The Greenbriers significance. It was a look of both rhapsody and dumbfoundment. Two expressions Clementine would never equate with Lilly.

"Project Greek Island!" She shouted. "Holy shit"

"Come again?" Clementine asked, impatiently. Lilly came back from her euphoria briefly to meet her eyes, like the realisiation had caused her to forget that the two had been interacting for the past twenty minutes. Then she started pacing, processing the words to explain what she knew.

"Okay, uh, in- in the 50s the government were panicking about the end of the world, but because of the russians, not the dead. The wanted somewhere to hide in case of nuclear fallout. Like someone dropping a bomb that could wipe out most of America." She relayed, quickly.

"Right. Well if it was The Greenbrier its probably gone by now right? It's been almost ten years and if isn't infested it'll be a pile of rubble." Clementine asked, unaware.

"Above ground, maybe." Lilly said, tantalisingly. She stopped to see Clementine raise her eyebrows, she was too far gone to be pulling information from someone who could just give it straight.

"Above ground?"

"Clementine, the government sanctioned a massive bunker to be built underneath the resort. And by massive I mean, like housing a thousand people. If- if we can get in there, we'd be set. Finally safe. Comfortable. Warm. I mean any food reserves would be long past edible so we'd still need to scavenge but shit, we would never have to worry about where we're sleeping again, Clem!" Lillys excitement was palpable and her revelation had Clementine feeling much the same way, if her recollection was indeed true.

"And it was classified?" She asked again, for confirmation.

"Yes! Which means, people are unlikely to know about it. Not the general population, and even less with the few of us left. If we can get there, even if it's been reached by some high ranking officials, we can get in. They'd have to take us."

"And if they don't?" Clementine asked, her hope fading a little.

'We can't think like that. We'll fucking take the place if we have to! I don't care, Clem. I'm no believer, but if I was, it'd be hard not to take this as a sign. What are the chances you find this and bring it to me, one of the few people with the knowledge of it even existing." It was strange to see Lilly step away from her pragmatism for a second. Hope wasn't part of her makeup.

But she was right. They had to go. To try. Clementine needed to do whatever it took to keep AJ safe. They needed to start running toward something rather than away all the time.

"Okay, Lilly. We'll- er- put it to the group. Tomorrow. We should sleep first." She said, expecting her to kick up about the potential of a vote. But she didn't.

"Sure. They'd have to be morons to want to stay put." Lilly said, content in her assumption. "Get up then, the faster we sleep, the faster we can get on the road. Work out how we're getting there."

Clementine wasn't about to argue. She stood up with great difficulty all the same though, knee seized from the fall she had taken earlier during the fight with the walkers. Lilly helped her up to the hatch and then watched her lower herself down gingerly, Louis' coat still making the admittedly much shallower decent slightly treacherous.

"This could really be it, Clem." Lilly said, determined.

But in a way, that's what had already started to gnaw at Clementine. The journey would take days at best, and likely be made on foot unless they could savage a car, and even then ten people inside it would be cramped if not impossible logistically. The pilgrimage would be far from plain sailing, or a sure bet.

Lilly was almost certainly right but not in the way she meant the words. No, it could indeed 'be it' for many of them along the way.


	9. Blowing the Whistle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if I'm happy with this chapter overall, hence its slight delay. I had trouble with moving it forward without clunkiness and went over it more than a couple times trying to rectify this. I hope you enjoy it anyway, sorry if its not up to the usual standard x

*

Lilly had been correct in her conviction that the majority of their number would be on board with upping sticks and heading out for The Greenbrier. It wasn't unanimous but there were enough votes for the win with only Sophie and Tenn voicing some hesitation. 

Clementine assumed that this was borne from their brush with the walkers as the treck would undoubtedly see them encounter a great many more.

Though allowing for a democratic vote in that instance had come at a price for Lilly when it came to her desire to return to the roadhouse. For this one she found herself in a minority of one as everyone else agreed they had enough to eat comfortably for a good while longer.

Naturally her reaction to this was less than pleasant but even she wouldn't allow herself to look so obviously hypocritical as to overrule the consensus.

So instead she had taken to building on the victory she had been on the right side of, aquiring the map from Violet that morning and insisting everybody make themselves useful elsewhere while she set upon plotting their expedition in peace. 

One route on foot, and one route by car, should they be bestowed a miracle by finding one that would actually start this far in. The odds were next to zero.

Clementine addressed this fact when the group stopped along a residential area containing ample vehicles, all of which jutted out at angles in their path, mounted curbs, or otherwise sat any which way but on their wheels. If indeed they still had them.

"I don't know guys, I can't see us finding a ride here. I think Violet was right when she told me I'd totalled the last working one in existence." She said, hands on hips before them.

"So... what are we going to do then?" Tenn asked, looking to be given direction.

He looked a little out of his element at being thrust into the wide open, having  been almost exclusively used to the walls of Ericson and later the Sharpsburg water tower.

Clementine assumed last nights attack had done nothing to improve his confidence in that respect. She also wondered if his stance on the walkers collective humanity had changed any.

She looked around at the houses flanking them on either side. They seemed to hold a lot more promise for useful finds within them. Clementine could tell that even with the broken windows and thriving weeds and vines slowly entombing the outer walls that they had belonged to an affluent neighborhood once.

"Well, we still look, you never know. But I guess we, er, search for general supplies now. We're good on the food front after yesterday. So things like medical, they should take priority. Bandages, gauze. But beyond that, hell, anything you want to make the days easier. Just remember you're going to be carrying whatever it is when we leave tomorrow." She finished.

"Like what?" AJ asked at her side. Clementine looked down, running through ideas that could appeal, his top hung off him, already threadbare despite it being given to him only weeks before.

"Well, for starters you could use new clothes. But how about some art supplies for you and Tenn? So you can make more drawings?" She said, hopefully. His unbridled joy and subsequent high five with Tenn had given her suggestion the seal of approval. 

"You can come with me and Violet while we look through these houses" She added, his happiness was infectious to her.

"I think you're going to be better out here." Minnie declared in a tone that suggested it would come to pass. She stood, her confident presence returned to the level it had been at the previous day at the roadhouse. When Clementine indicated a need for her reasoning she continued at her behest. 

"If we're looking to get a set of wheels going it stands to reason we're going to need people out here who know what they're looking at."

Her point was irrefutable much to Clementines dismay. She was practically the only one of them who had even driven a car before, as well as managing to also pick up some basic knowledge of under the hood as Kennys student. She would be needed to wire the car for testing at the very least.

"Okay. Fine. So who else, you?" Clementine asked doubtfully, but Minerva nodded.

"When Lilly didn't have us shooting up empty cans off of fucking logs she had us out trying to salvage cars for us to get around in, not that we actually got any working. I'm no mechanic but you can use my hands." She said the last part in a strangely suggestive manner, though it seemed to go over the heads of all there. Clementine chose to ignore it, she would not be putting up with her games today.

"Okay. So that's two of us. Louis, you've volunteered yourself by default!" Clementine shouted over to him. He was stood atop a rusted SUV, having taken to batting rocks off its roof with Chairles as his makeshift golf club. He pulled it backwards first, then called out "FORE!" as he swung it forward with some velocity, sending the rock skyward like a bullet, thankfully in the opposite direction to where the rest of them stood.

"I'm not going to be much use here, Clementine. The nearest I've ever been to a car was pulling your ass out of the one you drove into the ground." He said shrugging. "And these hands need to be kept in pristine condition for my piano playing career! You think Tchaikovsky woulda been caught dead changing a tire?" He posed sarcastically. Naturally Violet was the one to bite.

"They didn't even have cars back then, Louis!" He smiled at just how easy it was to catch Violet on his line.

"You know what, you're right, Vi. My mistake!" He returned. 

Violet rose above the derision in his words as she carried on. "You can at least keep a lookout, Lou." He threw Chairles over his shoulder and saluted her like military personnel waiting to be given marching orders. She shook her head and allowed someone else to resume delegation.

"You take AJ and Tenn then, Vi." Clementine confirmed. Aasim had not yet returned to his previous full bill of health and didn't need to be climbing in, out and underneath cars all afternoon so he too would be better suited indoors.

"Sophie, can you watch Aasim inside?" She asked. She didn't want to take advantage of her apparent need to repay Aasim for saving her life, but there were few options left at this point. Aasim, who had been sat on the sidewalk managed to cough some words up at this.

"I'm fine." He said, though his temperature belied his words. The beads of sweat almost trickled from his hairline and down his forehead, making it look like he'd only just been pulled from the river. "I don't need to be babysat, okay? Nobodys going to die because they're too busy paying attention to me and not over their shoulder!" He finished with a very weak defiance between breaths.

"Aasim, nobodys babysitting you! You saved Sophies life by risking your own, and despite what you say, you look like shit, I'm sorry but you do. So if we want to keep an eye on you until you don't then so be it. We're a team, its the least we can do. Got it?" Minnie said forcefully.

Aasim clearly wasn't at peace with the arrangement but he likely realised there were worse options to be had than Sophie watching over him so he slowly got to his feet and trudged toward the first house at his back. Tall and identical though they were, with an almost turret like chimney topping each one. They stood wedged, shoulder to shoulder with no walkways between them.

Sophie made a move to shadow Aasim at a tentative distance as Violet gave a goodbye look that said she wanted a kiss before departing, but she hesistated at Minnie's presence. 

Clementine wasn't one to stoke a fire and had previously kept the PDAs to a minimum but today she didn't care. If Minerva was going to persist with her ribald acts then there wasn't much point in walking on egg shells for her benefit.

She embraced Violet in a tight hug, nuzzling her nose into the crook of her neck and kissing it quickly, then pulling back and planting a long one on her lips. Louis made whooping noises and even threw in a wolf whistle. Clementine felt Violet raise a middle finger in his direction before she too pulled back.

"See you in a bit." She said, her attention now fully on Clementine.

"Make sure you clear all the rooms before AJ and Tenn go in them, okay?" Clem asked. She was putting a lot of trust in her to temporarily watch over AJ. She wasn't used to allowing that, not even with Violet.

"Of course, Clem. Don't worry. I love you." She said, reassuring her.

"Just call if anything happens. We're just out here." Clementine reminded. "And I love you too, Vi." She added, trying to be content with letting AJ out of her sight willingly. Violet smiled at the returned love, walking backwards slowly for a few steps to keep eye contact with Clementine before she swung around and addressed AJ and Tenn.

"Come on you two. We have to search the whole block and we have to be gone before it gets dark." Violet said, ushering them forward toward the doorway Aasim and Sophie had disappeared through. Clementine made a move to join Minnie at the car she was leaning against when she saw movement in the corner of her eye. It was James. Overlooked as always due to his wallflower like nature.

"Sorry James, you're so quiet I forget you're here sometimes." Clementine began, but Minnie interrupted, following up with her own uneccessary input.

"We should start calling the guy creepin' Jesus." She said coldly. 

"Just because we can hear you coming from three football fields away doesn't mean we've all got thunder feet." Louis said scornfully.

"It's not my fault I've got flat feet!" She fired back defensively.

"Fat feet?" Louis mocked knowing full well what she really said. 

"Shut the fuck up Louis" Clementine sniggered at his insult, drawing a glare from Minnie. It was her turn to be forgotten about however as Clementine continued conversing with James.

"That's okay. I'm not much of a presence." James said from behind his sweeping fringe, seemingly ignorant to how self depricating it sounded.

"You do your bit, James. We're better with you here" Clementine complimented sincerely. James didn't offer much in the way of combat but he was good for ideas the group had gone on to use once Clem had relayed them. He wasn't well versed in public speaking to put it lightly. He smiled at her observation.

"Thank you." He replied, as succinct as ever.

"So do you know anything about cars?" Clementine asked hopefully, not wanting to be left alone with the resident antagonist of the group.

"I helped my Dad. Run the food truck as a kid. But otherwise no. Nothing that would help. The orphanage didn't give that kind of lesson. I'm sorry." He apologised. Clementine shook her head.

"No that's fine, don't worry."

"I had hoped to search the houses. For more thread." He said, looking past Clementine toward them. She replied, puzzled at his desired material.

"Thread?"

"For the masks..." It took Clementine a split second to remember his request from the previous day.

"Oh, yeah. To move through the herds with." She confirmed upon realising. This line of conversation caught the attention of Minnie once more, retrieving her own head from under the hood of a car she had been idly observing.

"What's that about herds?" She butted in.

"Nothing. I'll be with you in a minute. Keep looking" Clementine fended her off. They didn't need that particular debate right now. She would have to put it to them all as a collective later, though her stance that they wouldn't go for it still remained.

"That's the problem! I don't know what the fuck I'm looking for" Minnie said exhasperated, hands in the air. She demanded attention wherever she went and it had begun to exhaust Clementine. She quitened her voice to continue with James.

"Yeah, that's fine. I haven't been able to put it to everyone yet but if you get the thread and whatever else you need then you can make them tonight before we move out" She said, fighting repulsion at the thought of the stench a mask made of walker skin must come with. On parr with the guts she'd lathered herself in on previous occasions she assumed.

He nodded in the affirmative and left four to become three. Although with Louis more interested in being the newly reincarnated Tiger Woods it felt more like two. She thought back to something Marlon had said once akin to Louis not exactly being the most reliable guy, and this was from a former childhood best friend. She had to agree, Marlon was right. A piece of shit. But right all the same.

She wandered oved to join Minnie, already feeling herself becoming tense at the thought of all the ways she would likely make a nuisance of herself. She was again hunched over the engine, or she would have been had it still recided where a gaping hole now was.

"I thought you said you'd been around cars with Lilly?" Clementine asked, skepitcal that she'd miss such a glaring fault otherwise.

"I have!" She protested, reaching out and fiddling with what looked like an intact transmission.

"But you didn't know this is missing the engine?" She asked both amused and annoyed in equal measure. Minnie tried to defend her position.

"Ask Soph if you don't believe me. I said I wasn't a fucking mechanic. I don't know what all the pieces are or even where they all go. But I can help if you give me direction." Somehow Clementine doubted her sincerity.

"Are you actually going to help or just try to get under my skin like yesterday?" Clementine accused, trying to make her point. Minnie tried and failed to act coy in her reponse.

"No idea what you're talking about" She sneered. "I'm just here to get your motor running."

Clementine looked to the heavens. If she didn't throttle Minerva by the time the day was out it would be due to unfathomable restraint on her part.

"This ones not getting us anywhere" She decided.

"Can't we just get another engine from one of these others?" Minnie asked, genuine wonder in her tone for the first time today.

"I suppose its possible, but unless we can find one the exact size as the one this held then its beyond me. I can wire a car, change a couple small parts, but I never had the chance to learn anymore from the guy who taught me." Clementine replied down-heartedly.

"He die?" Minnie asked for confirmation. Clementine nodded in the affirmative and was glad she didn't press the issue. A harsh knot arose in her stomach at the very thought of the way Kenny went out of the world. He deserved better.

They both stood back at Clementines insistence, leaving the hood popped. Surveying the cars that remained visually intact, Clementine sighed at the slim pickings. There couldn't be more than fifteen or so cars along the block that were in any condition to pin their hopes on, making their chances of success even worse than they hoped. 

Clementine declined to let it show however and pressed on across the road to reach a red car slightly mounting the sidewalk, suggesting it had been abandoned, the reason for which couldn't have been positive.

Sure enough Clementines attempts to wire the car resulted in nothing happening. All the parts seemed to be in place and in working order so she surmised the battery was completely dead, a problem they would likely encounter for the remainder of the afternoon. 

To her credit Minnie had begun to make herself useful by the time they'd reached the sixth car along having taken to searching in the foot wells and trunk for any tools they could use while Clementine worked to bring one to life.

Sitting in the front seat of a Cobalt Blue Subaru she felt momentary alarm at the sudden shouting from AJ, but whipping her head round in his direction she saw him dashing down the steps of the house they'd just searched and across the path to the neighboring one, with Tenn in toe. 

They both wore wickedly mischevious smiles as they out-paced Violet, who followed closely behind like a mother keeping tabs on her children as they experienced their first trick or treating session. She flashed a decidely more gentle smile toward Clementine as she passed empty handed, the first few houses refusing to turn up anything worth taking.

Clementine watched her disappear over another threshold before she got back to it. 'It' being the failure to start up yet another vehicle.

"Another dud" she called back to Minerva. "Hey let me know if you find a screwdriver okay? Might make things go a little faster up here."

"Hows a screwdriver going to help?" She called through from the trunk. "I thought you just had to twist some wires together?" Minnie asked, confusion in her question.

"I can and am doing it that way. But with a screwdriver I can just pry off the ignition cover and flip it on myself instead. Like substituting the key." Clementine taught. 

Kenny had always favoured that method and Clementine had to agree. Especially when they lacked a set of pliers to strip the wires down efficiently. The danger of being shocked doing it by hand also had her siding with her former mentor.

Minnie appeared at her side then, leaning in between the door and inner framework where Clementine had placed herself,  reclined under the steering wheel. An inquisitive look forming on her freckled features.

"Can you show me how to do it? Both ways? I haven't got a screwdriver but how about the tip of an arrow?" She suggested to Clementines pleasant surprise. 

"Uh, that could actually work." She said, going on to answer Minervas question when she didn't budge. It didn't look like they would be getting anything rolling today but Clementine figuree teaching Minerva how to for future reference might make their time seem not so completely fruitless.

"Not on this one. It's dead." She advised, pulling herself up slightly. "Get Louis off that SUV and we can try that one." Minnie obliged, returning to her customary confrontational state to address Louis.

"Hey, dumbass! Get down, we need to try that one." She ordered. Louis stopped mid swing and gave her a contemptous look for a few moments, then his eyes passed over to Clementine who rolled hers before nodding that they did indeed need to go over it.

"We'll just be a few minutes, Louis." She reassured, not that he needed that specific vehicle to stand on while he shunned his duties as designated lookout. Once he was down on the ground and in search of his next platform Clementine moved in ahead of Minnie.

The familiar sound of AJs unfocused joyful shout found its way to Clementines ears once again but this time she surpressed her instinct to frantically seek him out. Maybe it was a good thing that she always assumed the worst could be happening to her boy as it always kept her alert, but in the same line of thought she also had to let her trust in Violet come to fruition.

"The kids are fine." Minnie said at her shoulder, sensing the internal struggle Clementine was giving off. "If there was anything in there we'd have disturbed it by now" she added, seemingly not accounting anything but the potential for walkers.

Clementine swung the door to the SUV open wide and bent down, sliding back the drivers side seat to allow them both room to lie side by side in the footwell.

In leaning close to the seat she was hit by the faint leathery smell that suprisingly still lingered on the interior as she pulled back the lever. It reminded her of the R.V. Though it had been so long now she doubted her sense of nostalgia was correctly placed there. Perhaps she was mixing her memories with the car Kenny had gotten started in the snow before she took her first bullet.

Clementine sat down on the bottom of the frame and reclined her upper body backwards until her head rested by the gear stick. Minerva slipped off her jacket and threw it to the ground at her feet, it was sure to get stuffy in such a cramped space. 

She followed Clementines lead, but instead lay on her side, propping herself up awkwardly on her right elbow. Clementine could feel her shallow breath start to pass over her.

"This is cosy." Minnie commented. 

"Please, don't start" Clementine tried to shut her down in as unconfrontational a way as possible.

Clementine started by prying off the panel that kept the wires suspended up out of the way without saying a word. That part was self explanatory if not incredibly tough to do without the proper tools. She set it down behind her head, onto the passenger side as the wiring fell down, exposed to them now. She would start her explanation here.

"Okay, you watching?" She asked.

"Oh I'm watching."

"This is the ignition wiring. You got two different colours that you need to alter to get this right. Find the two red ones. See?" 

"Uhuh" Clementine grabbed them and ran her fingers along both until she reached the end of each.

"They're insulated. You need to strip maybe half an inch off both so you can see the wire underneath. You're going to twist them around each other tight, make sure they don't unravel..." She explained, however she didn't make a move to demonstrate this.

"Show me." Minnie asked again.

"There's not enough room. I can't get my shoulders up properly with you at the side of-" Minnie bolted from her position before she could finish, but it was into a much more unsettling position for Clementine as she clambered above her, hands coming down on either side of her head, knees balanced precariously on the cars lowest frame point where Clementine rested her hips. 

Minnies altered position now not far removed from a dog having just bowled over its owner in excitement at their presence. The only saving grace for Clementine was that Minnie kept her own body from pressing directly on to hers by a few inches. This did not help the restriction issues one bit but Clementine knew that Minnie wasn't blind to this. She feigned ignorance anyway, her stare on the cables Clementine still held.

"Better?"

"No! Not better!" Minnie edged her legs further apart within her paled out skinny jeans to give Clementine a little more mobility at the hip.

"There, you can move more now" Clementine was almost at the end of her tether with just whatever it was Minnie was intending to get from her.

"You can move! There's nothing stopping me from kneeing you in the balls right now, Minnie." Clementine threatened.

"Besides the fact I don't have any" she teased. "Come on, you wanted more room, I moved, just show me what else you have to do" she begged, trying unsuccessfully to steer attention from the predicament she was causing.

"I'm not doing shit until you stop pushing yourself on me! Seriously Minnie, get off. I don't like it." Clementine again asked, this time trying to wiggle out from under her frame. Minnie tensed her thighs back to where they had been originally to halt her escape.

"You're no fun!" She pouted, disappointed at Clementines refusal to be accosted at her discretion. She was bigger than Clementine by four of five inches and had marginally more strength in her current position. Minnies loose top hung off one of her shoulders revealing her collarbones and more cleavage than Clementine was comfortable witnessing.

She closed her eyes shut, and performed an ill advised movement to angle her body away from Minnies holding which had her lose balance, falling directly onto Clementine with all her weight. 

An audible yelp of pain from them both of them had Minnie scrambling to push herself away from their coming together completely, inadvertently using Clementines ribs to do so.

"Fuck, sorry!" Minnie apologised quickly in a hushed tone at Clementines repeated cry of pain, an attempt to keep Louis from noticing the commotion. If Clementine hadn't just had the wind knocked out of her there would be no way he would have been able to stay so oblivious. 

She groaned again, eyes scrunched together. "What the fuck is your problem!" She wheezed, trying to get her breath back.

"I'm sorry! I was just fucking around. I didn't mean to!" She knelt down and grasped at Clementines sleeve, but she slapped it away angrily, the pain and embarassment at the awkward exchange fuelling her action.

"Don't touch me. I'm sick of you touching me! I'm with Violet. You used to be. You aren't anymore! Got it?" She spat, rage starting to take hold. Minnie looked around timidly to make sure they hadn't drawn an audience.

Clementine sat up of her own accord then ready to unload more verbal abuse until a low key vibration echoed from across the way.

They both paused for a second trying to pinpoint its origin. It came from above and Clementine honed in on an open window to her right where the figure of Tenn appeared beaming.

"Hey Louis!" He shouted, though his voice passed through the air meekly from the distance he stood. Another heavy reverberation followed Tenn's words as he waited for Louis to reply. He did so with as much glee in his voice as Tenn wore on his face.

"Is that what I think it is!?" He bawled back, jumping down from his perch.

"Come see!" Tenn called, yet another echo emitted from within the room, though this time the sound was mixed, as the dull boom bled together with a much higher set of notes.

"Don't be playing with me boy!" Louis said, affecting a southern drawl as he did so. Bounding off toward the house that Tenn and the rest had entered.

Minnie made an attempt to escape from her current predicament but Clementine grabbed a fistful of the back of her shirt and swung her round at speed, wheeling herself round in the process and pushing Minnie up against side of the SUV. She blocked her in using her thigh so she could use her arm to caress the twinge in her ribcage. This had to be sorted out now.

"What the fuck is your problem!" Minnie said in an effort to take the lead as she always did.

"My problem is you! And why you keep being so innapropriate with me! It would be one thing if I was alone." Clementine seethed "But I'm with Violet!"

She noticed a tiny amount of blood smudged from a knick above Minnies eyebrow. She must have smacked it inside the car during the tangle. Unfortunately Clementine was in no mood to be sympathetic.

"I'm just messing around, don't be so uptight!" She deflected but Clementine knew it had to be more than that.

"You're not just messing around. Yesterday you crossed a line in the back room and you're doing it again today! So what is it? If you're trying to come onto me it won't work." Clementine said, as plainly as possible.

"Oh I'm not so sure about that. I saw you looking at me on top of that car yesterday." Minnie threw back, trying to shake Clementine from her high ground.

"Save it, Minnie! It meant nothing and I think my reaction to everything you've done since is proof enough of that." Clementine fought back.

"Alright! Chill, okay?" Minnie started, edging Clementine backwards slightly so she could inspect the pain on her forehead with her hand, she winced upon touching it, likely still stinging.

"I'm not coming onto you." She started, hesitating somewhat before disclosing what she had previously kept close to her chest. 

"I- I was doing it for Violet." She said, revealing her hand, thoroughly confusing Clementine in the process. 

"Doing it for Violet...?" Clementine repeated, her stomach dropping....


	10. A Song Bird.

*

"Violet put you up to all of this?" Clementine asked, trying to confirm the absurdity of what Minnie was suggesting. "You're telling me she had you touch my chest and fucking rub my sweat on your lips?"

Minnie failed to supress a smile at remembering this act of deviance before setting the record straight.

"No, no. That was on me - and probably a little out there even for my methods. Though I have to say, you don't taste half bad in the persperation department." She said, both hands raised now in continued surrender.

"What the hell do you mean then!? Doing this for Violet? You know I could go find out for myself right now." Clementine replied, her voice quaking, a little afraid of what the next few words out of Minnies mouth could do to her relationship. Minnie sighed deeply.

"I wouldn't do that. Look, Violet doesn't know anything. Okay? And she doesn't need to. You know, its hard to stop caring for people sometimes, even when they've stopped caring about you..." Minnie trailed off, remaining elusive.

"And you think assulting me is showing you care about her still? How does that make any sense!" Clementine shook her head, waiting to be drip fed more.

"Don't be so melodramatic, Clementine. I touched your chest with my finger and gave you the eye a couple times. It's no big deal. The way you looked me up and down yesterday - I had to know." Minnie said.

"Know what?" Clementine demanded.

"That you could be trusted with her. I still love her you know. She was one of the few things that kept me going at Delta... the thought that being taken had spared her. That I'd make my way back to the school someday. But then I found out. Something else had kept her going. Someone else." Minnie stared into Clementines fierce eyes then, as though searching within them for a quantifiable fidelity. 

Clementine didn't doubt the honesty now pouring from a heart she had only known to be resistant and combative when it was shown kindness. Returning her gaze she identified completely with the pain behind Minnies eyes for the first time. To return to someone who had changed for the worse in your absence.

"I know that must have been hard for you, Minnie. But that doesn't explain you harassing me." She said, calming a little knowing things had come from a place of non malice. Allowing Minerva more space in the process by sitting on the edge of the sidewalk.

"Like I said, I had to know you could be trusted with her. I was trying to tempt you, Clementine. See if you'd go for a little extra on the side. Turns out you're happy just having your cake." Minnie shrugged. Clementine ran her hands down her face in exhasperation.

"You're warped, Minnie." She said, in a less insulting tone than Minerva deserved right now. She sat down beside Clementine, a happy distance away finally.

"No. My hearts just in fucking pieces. And i'm trying to find a way to be okay with it. I needed to see if you were worth my own heartache. Turns out you are." She said, a matureness shining through her fresh faced features. She appeared much more personable when she dropped the facade.

"I mean I knew you could protect her, you've done it for the kid, for the rest of us. And you've got your integrity, I just - wanted to know how far it went. I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable. If it helps any its a good thing that you were. If you can resist this piece of ass -" she lifted her shirt a little, tantalisingly and wildly lacking in modesty. "- then I figure you must love her enough to not want the risk of losing her." 

She let go of her top but it came down to rest above her bellybutton, the paleness of her skin almost blinding Clementine in the light. She breathed a sigh of relief, although her brain hurt still trying to process the method in Minervas madness. She gave up, content somewhat that she wouldn't have to pass tests she was unaware of anymore.

"For the record, looking at you yesterday? I wasn't dreaming about jumping your bones, Minnie. Not that I wouldn't - fuck, you know what I mean. If I didn't know Violet... anyway it was jealousy. I mean clearly you're proud of that figure-" She gestured toward Minnies bared midriff.

"- and obviously Violet used to own it for however long you two were a thing... I just have less confidence in my own I guess." Clementine finished, feeling thoroughly silly at having such an inconsequental notion considering the world they survived in.

"Well, if I can compliment you without being thrown against a car door, you look good Clementine. A little on the short side but from reading the stupid girly magazines Sophie used to collect, that's not something you need to worry about. I'm not sure we can be held to fucking body ideals anymore out here. Starving and stressing over everything. Violet is smitten with you as much as it pains me to watch, you haven't got a thing to worry about." Minnie reassured.

Clementine felt a refreshing shift in atmosphere around her now. Something she couldn't have imagined not ten minutes earlier. When they say you never really know a person it usually comes on the back of a negative change in personality. Clementine got the feeling the saying had a case for being flipped when it came to Minnie.

"You, uh, might want to start wearing a bra" Clementine said finally, lightening the mood.

"Hey, fuck bras. I'm happy letting mine have a little freedom! God knows they're perky enough." Minnie laughed. Clementine sensed that her sordid humour would remain intact, besides, she couldn't argue with her assessment, not that she'd ever let her know.

"I'm sorry, Clem. You must wonder what Violet saw in me." She said sincerely. Clementine shook her head though. Violet had mentioned her qualities with fondness enough before when she thought Minnie was no longer around.

"Nah, you made her happy. She said you had real talent. She loved your voice." Minnie smiled and Clementine hoped it brought her misery a little easement.

"Speaking of voices..." Minnie smirked as a familiar rendition caterwalled collectively from inside the room Tenn had beckoned Louis to. Clementine shook her head, pretending to plug her ears for Minervas amusement.

"Not a fan?"

"Not in the slightest." Clementine puffed out her cheeks. And then cringed as the sing-a-long progressed from acapella into a full blown music number complete with piano player extroardinaire, Louis St. Louis making an impromptu appearance.

"Oh my darlin',  
Oh my darlin',  
Oh my darlin',  
Clementineeeee." 

They shouted repeatedly over the wretched melody.

"Does it remind you of being a kid or something?" Minnie asked, seemingly fighting the urge to hum it herself.

"Not particularly. It's just dark. They sing it like it's as innocent as Happy Birthday or something. But I've had nightmares of drowning over those words." She revealed.

"Why not tell them to cut it out then?"

"It makes them happy." Clementine shrugged "There's not a lot of that left."

"Wow, Clementine. You're such a martyr" Minnie said sarcastically. "If its causing you trouble then say something." She paused, a thought crossing her mind "In fact, come with me." 

She grabbed Clementine by the hand, clasping their fingers together and pulling them both to their feet, her standard pace meaning they were over the threshold in seconds, the singing louder now. 

"Hit her foot against a splinter  
Fell into the foaming brine...."

They clambered up the staircase, its carpet reaching only half way up having been torn off at the summit. Strips of wallpaper once intact on the walls had been strewn across the landing floor, chips of wood mixed in from a hole that had been kicked through with some force to the immediately adjacent room.

The landing was spacious and the rooms looked just as much so as Clementine and Minnie whizzed past them following the music. They came to a halt at the mouth of a room that had once been painted a brilliant white, but now looked a dirtier, tired shade. 

Mould crawled across the cieling and Clementine even spotted dried, bloody smears in one or two places on the wooden flooring. Half of which had been pryed up and particularly large scorch marks in one corner told her they had likely been used to keep someone warm at one point in time. She wondered if the blood had come from the same person.

Despite the morbid outlook of the room itself, the living, breathing participants filling it were doing their best to bring its atmosphere life. That was until Minnie swiped her hand back and forth quickly across her neck to indicate they cut out the singing.

"Why?" Louis asked. "It's a classic! And one of the few I can play without fluffing it up!" He protested, as AJ came flying into Clementines gut with his usual jubilation whenever they were reunited, no matter how brief the absence. She would never tire of kneeling to wrap her arms around him. They way he was shooting up she didn't have long left to enjoy such moments anyway.

Minnie paced the room, looking for something as she did so.

"I think we need a little something different, you got a guitar back there by any chance?" She asked, peering over the piano that cornered Louis as he sat at it. Louis was indignant in his reply.

"Maybe... but we ain't supposed to be getting the band back together until Clemmy over here earns it!" He said, winking at her as she led AJ over to where Violet sat with Sophie, beneath a cracked window.

"And tell me Louis, how do you plan to do that when you're not going to have the fucking piano around by that point! You gonna ride it all the way to The Greenbrier like Vanessa Carlton?"

"Only if it's A Thousand Miles away...." Louis sniggered at his own pun, cutting it short when the remainder of the room stared blankly at him. He relented his position as first chair to reach behind him, lifting up an acoustic guitar and presenting it to Minnie. She inspected it.

"It's missing the bottom string..." She muttered to herself.

"A good carpenter doesn't blame her tools, m'dear!" He said, needling her. She huffed in response.

"I'm uh, going to need a few minutes to tune this up. Figure out the chords." Minnie said, going off to the other side of the room and sliding down the wall, guitar balanced on her knees as she began twisting the knobs and plucking each string.

Clementine gave Violet a kiss on the cheek.

"Have fun car hunting with Min?" She asked. Clementine didn't quite know how to answer that one without a spanish inquisition following so her reply tacked a similar question on the end.

"It was, an experience... how was house hunting with the kids?"

"She certainly keeps things interesting." Violet said, anecdotes aplenty likely swimming around her head of memories the two had made before Clementine. "But yeah, it was okay. I think we need to get them both a lead before we take them out again though" She joked.

Sophie gave her a look of disapproval at the notion of treating her step brother that way but Clementine could tell it was in jest.

"Find anything good then, kiddo?" She asked AJ, knowing full well that he had as a makeshift sack made from a bedsheet sat guarded by both he and Tenn.

"We got so much!" Tenn answered excitedly before AJ could do so himself.

"Oh yeah? Like what?" Clementine asked, happy to indulge their spirited disposition. AJ untied the knot holding everything inside, allowing the contents to lay spread on the sheet for her perusal. 

A quick glance over it all made clear it would be pittance to their overall cause of survival but undoubtedly would bring the two of them hours of entertainment during their travels over the few days or so.

Their trove contained Comic books with minor tattering, a rainbow of coloured pencils and sharpies that popped in their flourescence, and little figures that had clearly once been ornaments but would now be given new identities and purpose in the hands of AJ and Tenn.

"No new clothes though, huh?" She asked, AJ, who just shrugged. Clementine knew her suggestion had gone in one ear and out of the other once she had mentioned art supplies.

"I looked on his behalf" Violet started. "But I couldn't find anything close to his size, sorry, Clem"

"Don't worry about it, it was just an idea. He'll have to make do until we come across something. He's got his jacket so I'm not worried about him getting cold, which is what matters." She said, content that Violet had at least followed up on her request.

Minnie continued fiddling with the strings on her guitar patiently as Clem looked over the room. James still had to be elsewhere in search of his thread supplies, or otherwise off searching for undead specimens to remove the faces of. Aasim sat in a world of his own and out of earshot, so Clementine took the opportunity to ask after his health.

"How's he been, Soph?" Clementine asked, drawing attention to her recent detail. Sophie sat with her legs splayed at her side, an unusual position that Clementine hadn't come across before. The knees of her jeans were completely worn away and she picked at the holes in melancholy.

"Quiet. Uh, labored... We fell behind the others quite a bit because he had to keep getting his breath back. And we weren't moving fast as it was." She tried to summarise. "I- I don't think he's getting better."

"Why not?" Clementine asked, worried.

"I had to help him up here - earlier, and he's starting to shake, in the hands. Like he doesn't have control over them... I tried to call him on it but he just fobbed me off, said he was just low on blood sugar - but I know that's crap. I've seen that shake before." Her sombre auora growing as she allowed her concerns to be voiced.

"We'd have people come into the infirmary at Delta... Lilly had me in there, I guess she realised I'd never be a soldier. Anyway they were usually the ones who had been away for weeks. Recruiting. Not all of them were bit... some were just sick. But it didn't matter. Whatever it was just made them weak enough for the thing inside us to take hold. The shakes always came. Before it happened."

Clementine remembered AJs mom and how she had passed without being bitten, instead weakened by giving birth to her baby boy. She had suffered the shakes too, but that hadn't been surprising in the sub zero temperatures she had been forced to suffer through on their way to Wellington. Aasim would have to make a similar journey to The Greenbrier, although in conditions less harsh than Rebecca had had to.

"We'll do what we can, Soph. Aasims strong upstairs, it'll take something pretty damn rough to beat his mind into submission. Mind over matter, right?" Violet said reassuringly, though Clementine wondered if she really believed that. After all, whatever it was bringing people back as walkers did so by hijacking the brain and leaving only one deadly intent behind.

"And don't go blaming yourself, you hear me? I know you, Soph. You stew over everything. You didn't cause this." Violet said putting her hand on her shoulder.

"We shouldn't have been outside..." Sophie said, shaking her head and furrowing her brow, her eyes welling up.

"You guys went to pee! You held it till you were bursting and you followed safety procedure! There was nothing you could have done, Sophie. What were you supposed to do? Squat over the fucking side of the tower?" Violet rebuffed, making Sophie smile though her eyes still leaked a silent tear or two.

Clementine hopped over Violets legs and crouched in front over Sophie to save her having to explain the guilty tears to the others. If anyone knew the feeling of someone elses death on their concience, she was the damn poster child for it.

"Sophie?" She asked for her attention. "I know where you're at. I've been there. I'm still there, sometimes... I nearly had a breakdown the other night remembering all the people who directly sacrificed themselves for me-" Clementine glanced at Violet who wore a peturbed look at her confession. "But you need to find a way to be okay with what Aasim did for you. He's still here-"

"For now..." Sophie said, her eyes glistening.

"Talking like that won't do anything for anyone, Sophie. Not least, you. He- he might not make it. But non of us might. We can't talk like its already happened, you know? We need to do what we can to save him now. Not give up." Clementine said, trying to spark some hope back into Sophies demeanor.

Violet took her sleeve and used it to wipe away Sophies tears gently. AJ and Tenn watched the scene in silence, but with empathy. Tenn with a decidely mournfulness on his face. Sophies sadness infecting her brother as he listened to Clementine and Violet trying to soothe her doubt.

He grabbed a pencil and set to work drawing something on the inside cover of one of the comics.

Minnie cleared her throat and twanged the strings on the guitar. They now sounded much more pleasant to the ear. She moved into the centre of the room, still sitting on her behind, legs crossed now.

"Okay. So, as good as Oh My Darlin, is, I think I have something better." She said, rather more timidly than Clementine was used to hearing from her. She hadn't pegged Minnie as someone who could get nervous in any situation, but the prospect of performing for her fellow survivors seemed to afflict her with just that. She cleared her throat once more.

"Its hard to remember this properly, being so long since I've heard it, obviously... what with the radio silence and everything. But I do remember it was one of the last songs I was able to obsess over before I couldn't anymore. And I, uh, figured you might get a kick out of it, Clem. Though full disclosure, the lyrics aren't exactly anymore upbeat." Clementine smiled, anticipating what Minnie had anyway.

The latter fiddled with the strings again, geeing herself up to attempt the run through. Louis gave her a little push to start. "You have the floor, Min. You got this." He said, confidently.

"Well, this works on the piano, too. So feel free to join in when you get the melody down, alright?" She said, likely not used to performing solo.

"You know it." Louis said, inspirited. Clementine moved back to position between Violet and AJ then, holding both their hands ready to hear her famed vocals. The room fell silent.

"So this is Clementine, by Sarah Jaffe." Minerva said. And then she began to play. 

Her fingers working in place up the neck, thumb swaying up and down across the top most string rhythmically at the other end, pushing it through with a little more force on every second swing. Her fourth finger flicked upward a few strings down in time and harmony, creating the most melancholy of emotions in Clementine as the vibrations met her.

Yet with every strum, the pace picked up slightly, becoming more urgent but somehow retaining its almost ethereal appeal as it kept on course to meet with Minnies voice. This limbo caused a floating feeling under the skin of Clementine. She didn't know where it was taking her, but she hoped it wouldn't end soon.

She listened to the last couple of instances of the guitar being played unaccompanied by anything else, watching Minnie ready herself to take on the words she would sing for the group.

Ten she let it out. And it was glorious. The hairs on Clementines arms stood to attention immediately at the sheer soul in Minervas voice. She cleared her mind completely in that second and just listened to the beautiful moment she knew she would be blessed to be a part of and look back on.

"50 states, 50 lines  
50 crying all the times...  
50 boys, 50 lies  
50 i'm gonna change my minds  
I changed my mind  
I changed my mind  
And now I feel indifferent..."

She sang with complete deft, her eyes shut tightly, likely willing Louis to find the groove and join in.

"We were young, we were young  
We were young, we didn't care  
Is it gone? Is it gone?  
Is it floating in the air  
I changed my mind  
I changed my mind  
And now I feel indifferent"

Minnie bit her lip and it trembled a little as she recited the next line, more passion noticeable here, as though she identified with it specifically.

 _"All that time, wasted..."_ She stopped playing for a split second then, allowing it to hang there before she continued, or willed herself on.

"I wish I was a little more delicate,  
I wish my, I wish my, I wish my, I wish my,  
I wish my..... name was Clementine."

It was completely beautiful and heartbreaking in the same crashing instant. Clementine felt something catch in her throat and she fought back tears herself as she watched Minnies escape down her cheeks. This was personal, the most fragile of testaments to her small world and what it had dealt her. Louis pushed a few complimentary keys at the following break in vocals, adding his expertise to an already otherwordly performance.

The second set of verses were a carbon copy of the opening ones, but with Louis lending his weight they were both in full swing as Minnie sang once more, a smokeyness creeping into the words as she got more lost in them, working once more toward the chorus that hit like a shot to the gut to everyone in the room. Even Aasim had been pulled from his shell, watching intently as the duo played to another small crescendo. Again she went, the piano adding a harrowing layer to her moving cry.

"All that time, wasted....  
Oh, I wish I was a little more delicate  
I wish my, I wish my, I wish my,  
I wish my name.... was Clementine

All that time, wasted....  
Oh, I wish I was a little more delicate  
I wish my, I wish my, I wish my,  
I wish my name.... was Clementine......"

She finished playing, with Louis rounding off the performance with a long, deeply affecting note that faded away until there was nothing but the bodies in the room floating back down to the floor, a transcendental moment departed.

Minnie sat huddled in herself, as brittle as a woman could ever be. Her cheeks were stained with tears, still closed, and her fingers remained pressed in the final formation she had put them in on the strings. Clementine felt movement to her right and emulated it herself, rushing to a Minerva frozen in the moment. 

They were all there simultaneaously as one. Their arms wrapped around Minnie, and by extension each other, fused in an array of emotions non of them could or would likely ever verbalise beyond the tears they all cried. They didn't need to....


	11. Cutting the Chase.

*

No words had to be exchanged for Lilly to know they had been unsuccessful in their venture, reacting by passively screwing up one of the two maps she had drawn up in prelude of their nearing departure the following morning.

It was clear she hadn't truly anticipated results but Clementine respected her resolve to account for the possibility that they may have gotten lucky anyway. It was akin to somewhat of a back handed compliment coming from Lilly.

Having returned home on the cusp of dusk they didn't have much time left for anything before needing to get a good nights sleep. But waiting on a hot and filling meal gave them a little leeway for a few activities still to be accomplished.

Violet had withdrawn a scavenged pair of scissors from her back pocket after setting up both AJ and Tenn with their drawing supplies, indicating it was time for Clementines desired haircut. 

The two lovers climbed up and out of the hatch where a couple of their number already sat enjoying the shallow breeze, antithesis to the circling sticky heat being generated by the stove cooking their meals inside.

"You sure you trust me with these?" Violet said jokingly. She attempted to make quick cutting motions with the scissors but they resisted, catching due to all the rust they had fallen to over the years. 

Clementine nodded.

"Of course. You're the not the first and I know you won't be the worst." She giggled to herself then, remembering the months she had to put up with Javi's attempt until it grew out enough for her to even it up herself.

She wondered where he was now. They had been overrun so quickly that day there was no time for anyone to pick a rendevous point, only a moments notice to grab AJ and run to safety. Returning to the outskirts of Richmond days later found the place no longer inhabited by the prior residents and no sign of Javier existed among the corpses.

"You sure? Sophie's usually the stylist around here. I can go get her if you want, Clem." Violet asked again, doubting her own ability. Clementine plonked herself down in front of Violet in defiance, her legs overhanging the railing once again.

"I'm sure, Vi. I just need a trim, you can do that. If you fuck it up, well maybe then we can ask Sophie to salvage it. AJ needs a haircut too, we can ask her to do his a little later." She said, sensing Violet getting onto her knees behind.

She removed Clementines hat and set it to the side, releasing her overly long pigtails so her hair hung wavy to her shoulders. 

Clementine took this opportunity to rest her chin on the steel barrier while Violet took a few minutes to run her hands through her hair delicately, stopping when they snagged on a knot, and picking it free patiently each time until her thick, usually near black locks reposed almost chocolate-like under the dying light at their backs.

"So, are you going to tell me what Minnie did to piss you off earlier?" Violet asked, fiddling with Clementines split ends.

"Oh, you saw that?" Clementine didn't bother to play dumb. She respected Violet a little more than that.

"From the window, yeah" Violet confirmed. "I wasn't spying - I just like to see you, like all the time. Louis had just come up and I wanted to call you too, but I look out the window and you've got Minnie up by her ears. What did she do this time?" She asked, clearly well enough aware of Minnie to know she caused an appropriate reaction.

Clementine didn't want to lie to Violet, but she didn't need any animosty brewing between the two ex-lovers either. Minnies methodology was wrong but her intent was well meaning. Besides, everything she would say would have basis in truth, it just wasn't what lit the fuse.

"A misunderstanding, I guess?. We were having no luck with the cars and she was being a pain in the ass while I was trying to show her something. Then she said something about James again, like she does, and it just set me off." Clementine said, nonchalantly.

"I bet that was a shock... Minnie isn't used to being roughed up like that. Having said that I'm not used to seeing her cry either but it happened... hell, maybe you shook the attitude out of her." Violet pondered. She seemed to have taken Clem at her word.

"You might want to take your top off for this" Violet prompted, continuing at Clementines confused look. "If I cut now, all your hair is going to fall onto your shirt and make it itch like hell."

Clementine smiled, though Violet could not see. "Oh, and here was me thinking you just wanted to get a little show. You not get enough of me in my underwear last night?" She teased, lifting up her arms for Violet to pull her top off her body all the same.

"Hell no, I didn't!" Violet said, genuine morose in her voice at their lack of intimacy. "I don't get to see enough of you as it is, don't hold this against me" she finished, folding Clementines top and laying it underneath her hat.

"I don't hold anything against you. Much less taking the opportunity to do a little, uh, wandering. Even if its just with our eyes. Though I'll remind you I've not seen so much as the small of your back yet" Clementine accused, playfully, though truth was rooted within.

"If we had more privacy you'd get much more of an eyeful." Violet said, tempting Clementines mind. "Now hold still, and your breath, this could get ugly."

Violet snipped the scissors for the first time along the hem of Clementines hair, she felt the strands tickle her shoulder blades as they slipped down her back.

She would cut along a little more before stopping to blow warm air slowly onto her in order to rid the dead hairs from her body. It made Clementine shiver, and she was under no illusions that Violet knew exactly what she was doing.

"That's not fair" she argued, half heartedly.

"Oh so you want me to stop?" Violet asked. Clementine performed hesitation to save face, but there was no way she really wanted Violet to stop making her feel the warm twitch of her tummy muscles. She shook her head, no.

"That's what I thought." She said, tracing her finger along Clementines shoulder, pulling slightly at her bra strap. It was making Clementine start to feel lost in her touch, so she batted it away.

"You're going to have me convulsing on the floor if you carry on, Vi. Which I would love by the way. Just not here. There are people." She explained, briefly resenting their presence.

"They're always going to be around." Violet said, ceasing her touch.

"Maybe at The Greenbrier? Lilly said it was huge. I'm sure we'll get some privacy there." Clementine hoped, trying to appease Violet.

"If we even make it there. I am not dying without making love to you, Clem." She replied in morbid romance.

"You're not dying, period, Vi." Clementine reassured, turning around and giving Violet a hug for her patience.

"You're clammy" Violet said, holding her bare skin tightly back.

"I'm sitting out in my bra, in this breeze. Of course I'm clammy. The sooner you get to finishing my hair, the sooner I won't be." Clementine said, letting go and swivelling back to position.

"Clammy Clem." Violet said, immaturely. Clementine didn't dignify the joke with a response, falling silent and feeling the scissors cutting away at the length until they reached the nape of her neck a few minutes later.

"That should do. You want any off your bangs?" Violet asked as she brushed the excess hair off her sloping shoulders again. Clementine pondered the question, pulling at the strands across her forehead.

"I think I'm good. I like my bangs. Until they start getting in my eyeline anyway." She replied, circling her fingers around them. Violet placed her hands on her shoulders and tried to spin her around once again.

"Okay, well I still have to get the sides anyway so you're going to have to face me." Clementine obliged, turning herself again so Violet could look her over, envisioning their symmetry before she started clipping away.

Clementine took the opportunity to return the favour, scanning over Violet too as the space between them reduced at the latters concentration. It wasn't like she wasn't also frustrated at not being able to completely lose herself in Violets touch. 

She wanted to let her have her way, to feel physically what Violet made her feel in her heart. And Clementine wanted to give that back, to have Violet feel the pounding in her chest as she popped the button on her jeans loose...

Clementine shook her head, dreaming of such scenarios so far off in the future could only serve as torture for her should she continue. 

Bringing Violet back into focus Clementine caught her stealing a look at her cleavage. Her bra was a little big for her breasts to properly fill them so Violet was no doubt getting what she had desired to see. Clementine let her have her moment before she clicked her fingers.

"Eyes up here!" She said, Violet looked up quickly, the beginnings of embarassment forming on her sharp jawline as Clementine leaned in fast unexpectedly, locking their lips together passionately.

They might not be able to bare all and make the love they desperately wanted, but it was impossible to act like nuns too. The attraction was too much at times. Clementine heard the scissors fall to ground as Violet climbed over her, continuing to taste her lips. 

She held a position on top much the same as Minerva had done earlier in the day, only this time Clementine didn't fight it. She did hesitate slightly with the knowledge that James and Aasim sat only on the other side of the tower, but decided to wrap her legs up and around Violets hips anyway, forcing their bodies together, writhing her hips upwards.

Violet pushed Clementines wrists to the floor above her head, and she felt them knock something away, she turned her head at the intrusion just in time to see her hat slip off the edge to the ground below. Violet took the opportunity to run her tongue up her neck at this.

"Fuck." Clementine moaned, both at the sensation Violet gave her and the loss of her hat, lamenting the need to retrieve it that second. Violet had one hand running over her chest, clearly not aware of Clementines separation.

"Vi, stop, I knocked my hat off the side" Clementine said, turning onto her front and pulling herself to the edge to peer down, squinting to see her hat with the slither of natural light left to illuminate the ground directly below.

She scanned the immediate area underneath the tower as it couldn't have travelled far. Violet sighed deeply, un-straddling Clementine and joining her side, laying too on her front.

"Did your hat really just cock-block me?" She groaned.

Clementine wasn't listening though. She had noticed something moving slowly along the treeline a short distance away. It was crawling on all fours, but it didn't appear to be one necessitated by discomfort.

No, it looked a lot more like an act of stealth.


	12. The Big Sleep.

*

Clementine lowered her voice as she prompted Violet to seek out the figure, though they were so high up there was little chance of tipping them off.

"You see that? By the tree line?" Violet scoured the wooded area at Clementines instruction but her failure to give any acknowledgement that she had seen anything forced Clementine to direct her head to the right spot with her own hands.

This time she reacted affirmatively. "Yeah, I see it. Walker?" Violet asked tentatively. Clementine shook her head at the suggestion though she couldn't be completely sure.

"I don't think so. It doesn't look like its dragging itself. The legs themselves are moving, they're working. They could be up on their feet if they wanted to be." The figure looked like a pin prick at their height but its presence had Clementine automatically on edge all the same.

"Maybe they're injured? Should we go help?" Violet asked, unusually naive in the process. Clementine pushed herself up and threw her top back over her head, climbing up toward the hatch.

"Keep your eye on it" She instructed before bobbing her head down into the hole to seek out Lilly. She found her hunched over the map again, never content in the details. She shot her head upwards at the mention of her name, upside down to Clementine as she spoke.

"I think we've got company." She said quietly so as to not alert the rest of them inside. Minnie and Louis thankfully were on cooking duty and were in the midst of a disagreement on the usage of spices they'd picked up at the roadhouse.

Lilly leaped up and out of the hatch like a jaguar, survival mode switched to eleven.

"Where? How many?" She demanded.

"Just the one that we can see-" Clementine started, but Violets voice interrupted with updated information.

"Uh, Clem, its on the move!" She and Lilly shot down to Violets position, honing in on the figure that now resided bolt upright on both feet. It had been joined by three other bodies but the original one seemed to be trying to put distance between it and the others.

Clementine felt Lilly leave her side with haste, returning mere seconds later with her coveted scoped rifle. Bullets for it were extremely rare these days so she mainly used it for long range surveillance. She had however used one of those scarce commodities to save Clementines life the previous night.

She leant it, one armed onto the top bar of the railing and stuck her eyeball to the scope angled below. Clementine and Violet waited, still looking at the scene without the aid of zoomed weaponry.

"Lone female. Multiple walkers advancing." She said, her military training at the fore. Stance unmoving except to edge the rifle slightly to keep the woman in her sights.

"Fuck! We should help her!" Violet made a move toward the vertiginous drop to the ground but Clementine grabbed her arm. It was Lilly who spoke though.

"No. She could be bait." She said, calculating. Violet looked at her, still in Clementines grip.

"Yeah! Walker bait if we don't move now! Whats wrong with you?" Her eyes flitted to Clementines who tried to explain away the growing opposition on her face.

"She could be trying to draw us out. It wouldn't be the first time its happened." She said, remembering the attempted Arvo ambush and the ensuing chaos.

"We go down, help the helpess. Next thing you know we're surrounded by meatheads trying to put us down with meat cleavers." Lilly said, matter of factly.

The woman below started to call out for help as she tired of dancing around the walkers. It was faint from their vantage point but she was certainly a good actress if she was putting on the fear.

Violet tried again.

"So we're going all Salem here? Just going to watch until she gets eaten? Is that when we know she's not part of some fucking gang out to get us?" She pulled her sleeve from Clementines grasp, vocalised resentment drawing the others from their activities, appearing in attempt to decipher the cause.

"Whats going on?" Aasim asked, a little more strength in his voice than he had had earlier.

"Yeah, whats with the gun?" Louis added, searching for answers. Lilly ignored them to respond to Violets angry protests, the womans SOSs still echoing out, bringing the rest to the railing to see for themselves.

"Calm down. Christ, girl. I'm not going to let her die. I'm just... playing chicken. If she's with people, they're going to give up their cover to save this bitch before those walkers get a hand on her. If not, well I'll try and take them out." Lilly replied, explaining her position.

Violet stared at Clementine in exhasperation, her arms out looking to her to take her side. But she didn't. Past experiences had left their mark.

"I'm sorry, Vi. We have to be sure." She said regrettably. A look to the other survivors showed compiled confusion in some, still trying to get to grips with the situation. The quicker of them were harder to read as the situation escalated.

Clementine turned back to the woman below, appearing to move almost as labored as the walkers, and matching their gait. Her cries still rang out, using her last bit of energy to pin hopes on outside interference to save her. 

One walker flailed at the woman, catching her with skeletal fingers before a thunderous bang obliged her wish. The walker crumbled where it stood as the bullet caved in its skull. Lilly was already reloading while the rest caught up to her act.

"I am not going to be happy if I have to pull this trigger again so you better go take care of the other two like you wanted, princess." She said, aggressively. Violet took the opportunity and half slid toward the base of their soon to be vacated home. Clementine chased her down, both lacking their weapons.

It was pitch dark now at ground level, the sun blocked out by the trees entirely as the two ran toward the fracas. The woman was shaking but stationary as they neared her. 

She had fallen to her knees in apparent shock at Lillys first shot. Elsewhere in her mind as the two remaining walkers wailed out their gruesome cry for living flesh. Clem and Violet reached their backs just in time, the walkers practically on top of her when the two took their legs out at the knees. They gargled and rattled from their throats, attention turned to their assailants.

But they stood no chance. Violet roundhouse kicked one with precision, sending its rotted head rolling completely off its shoulders. Clementine took a more direct approach, simply sticking the flat bottom of her boot into the remaining walkers back, standing on top of it and using her other to smash what was left of its face into the mud beneath.

It left the three of them alone, so Clementine hoped. Violet moved to help the woman up from her knees, her figure was wasted beyond what Clementine had rarely seen before. Even with the baggy pants concealing her lower half, she was wearing only a vest top up top and her frame was not far removed from the corpses lying headless at their feet.

Her stature didn't help her cause, as she stood at well above even Lillys height once Violet had helped her up. It was hard to tell with no light left to bathe them but she was definitely dark skinned, and older.

"Are- are you okay?" Violet asked the woman. It took some time for her to come back to reality, and even longer for her to deliver a coherent response, shell shock noteworthy in her thick accent.

"I, I, think so" she said through the night. Clementine only half paid her words any mind as she still erred on the side of caution, wits about her for a late ambush. "T-thank you. I could have died now." She stuttered, a hint of broken English in her words.

"Don't worry, we got you. Whats your name? I'm Violet." She lead. "And this is Clementine." The woman looked in her direction, noting her identification.

"My name iss Ryan. I- I'm sorry, I was out here for days now. Somebody, they took my food. Is a long story." She answered in response. Violet continued with her attempt at bringing the woman to calmness, her jittery disposition kept Clementine in limbo on her feelings about the situtation.

"We have food, shelter. Just over here" Violet offered. Clementine cleared her throat to get her attention.

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea, Vi." Clementine was far from getting started asking her questions of the woman. Not least why she was crawling around their camp like she had been.

"I- don't like to cause trouble. For you." Ryan said, looking back and forth between Clementine and Violet, apprehension in her eyes.

"Look at her, Clem. She's skin and bone. She needs to eat, and we got food, more than enough. And the way she was about to go down, I think we can rule out a hit job." Violet said, venom in her last line. 

Clementine hesistated to commit again. "You know Lilly ain't going to let her up that ladder. Not without the third degree first..." she pointed out.

"We'll see about that. The others get to have a say too you know. We're not under her rule." She hissed defiantly. "Come with me, uh, Ryan was it? We'll get you in warm and fed. You can tell us how you got here." Violet said tenderly, sudden change in her tone. She guided Ryan toward the ladders to the tower leaving Clementine to shake her head. Catching up in time for their paths to be halted predictably by Lillys call from above.

"She ain't coming up here, girl. Not until we've got some things straight. Stay put while I come down." 

Lilly descended from her perch then, with Minnie and Louis both in toe. She kept her rifle hanging off her shoulder as she touched terra firma. Looking the woman up and down it became apparent that the top of her head barely came level with the silhouetted outline of Ryans nose.

"What were you doing skulking around our base?" Lilly asked, commencing the interrogation as Minerva and Louis flanked her shoulders. Neither of them seemed to share Lilly and Clementines trepidation to allow this stranger any asylum.

Ryan looked bewildered at Lillys accusation, shaking her head in denial. "Skulking?.... no! I- I did not know you were here, I half been running - since yesterday!" She pleaded with her hands, animated.

"Why have you been running? You do something to piss someone off?" Lilly countered, jumping on every hint in the womans words that taking her inside could spell danger for the group.

"I- no. I had a place, to sleep at night. I spend many years there. One day I search for supply. I- I come back and I find people had been there. They kill my partner! Take all my food! I wass scared for my life, so I left." Clementine had an uneasy feeling beginning to swirl in the pit of her stomach. She spoke up looking for confirmation of its origin.

"This place. Was it up north?" Ryan looked at her, nodding ferverently.

"Sin, sin! Yes! It, ah, a restaurant. We stay there for many years...-" Clementines insides lurched at the mention of the restaurant. It had likely been them who indavertently forced Ryan into a decision to flee. Minnie muttered an expletive, likely coming to the same conclusion. 

Lilly was back on the offensive however. Advancing like a bear protecting its young. "Oh, it's a we now!? Bitch if you're bringing hell to our door-" Clementine quickly stepped between the two, knowing full well the 'we' she was referring to. Violet had also stuck her arm across Ryan to shield her from harm.

"Lilly, I think she's talking about the dead guy! From the roadhouse! - I think we're her intruders. We're the thieves." She said, conflicted over the realisation. 

"Oh, fuck." Louis voiced. "Plot twist."

"But we didn't kill the dead guy!" Minnie piped up as Lilly got to grips with the revelation of the part her group had played in getting Ryan to their collective door. "That fucker had his lights out at least a day before we got there."

"Wh- what? You are the ones taking my food?" Ryan asked, her accent still unplaceable to Clementine.

"Yeah, sorry about that... but lady, we didn't kill your partner. Like I just said, he'd been gone a day or two. Stinking the place out..." Minnie reiterated. This once again set Lilly off, regaining ground in the interrogation.

"And you said you went out the day these guys got there. For supplies. How do you sit in there with your partners body rotting away for at least a day and not know? It ain't adding up. You fucking lying to us?" Ryan looked petrified at Lillys implied threats, but unless she could adequately explain away the holes, Clementine was more than willing to let her ship sink.

They waited on Ryan, whos eyes flitted around the group, either stalling until she came up with a good enough lie, or gathering the courage to tell the truth about his demise. In the end she did neither, simply bursting into tears. Violet tried to shush her into enough serenity as to stop them.

Lilly tutted, unconvinced. Louis looked genuinely sympathetic to the woman and moved over to join Violet in her calming of Ryan. Clementine noted the tears streaming down her cheeks even in the darkness, glistening enough in their quantity to be visible. They were not crocodile tears as far as she could trust her reading of people.

It turned out they were triggered by trauma as Ryan got up the courage to admit the truth.

"I- I did it. I'm sorry!" She blubbered, hands cupping her mouth. "I did not want you to think I wass a murderer. You must understand he- he force me."

"Explains the missing dick" Minnie pointed out. "Good for you, girl." She added, seemingly content with Ryans distressing admission. It would take more to convince Lilly though.

"You called him your partner just now. Both together for years. He must have been someone good to you, no? You telling me he just flips and decides to rape your ass nearly a decade in? Not buying it." Lilly shook her head, still guarding the passage to the water tower and by extension, their people above.

"Iss a long story! We- we help each other a long time. Before thiss, death! The world. I wish I knew what make him do that to me. I thought I knew him." She replied, morose at the betrayal of the now dead guy still decaying in the store room.

"So you hack his dick off in his sleep or something? Whats with the bullet to the brain? Sack of shit rapes you, you take his dick away, I get that. But you put him down too. Made sure he didn't turn. The fuck is that about." Lilly asked, needing to iron out the details, Clementine could tell she was at least subconciously coming around to Ryans apparent lack of threat now.

"She still loved him." She said, answering for Ryan. Lilly shot her a look of disbelief so she continued. "I mean it fits. He betrayed her and she clearly got her revenge... but it seems like they spent years helping each other through this nightmare before he went native... they must have had memories, good ones. He had to die, no doubt. But making sure he didn't get back up.... resentment doesn't have to block out the ability to show mercy... you know?"

Clementine remembered what Christa had told her by the campfire one night, filling in the holes in her continuity that had been caused due to the strangers kidnap. The horrible end to Ben Pauls life, impaled on a pipe in the street. How Kenny had put aside his own resentment of Ben and his inadvertent causing of Duck and Katjas death in order to end his prolonged suffering at the hands of walkers closing in. Kenny using his last bullet to put Ben down properly so he wouldn't come back. 

The strength it must have taken Kenny in that moment, to put aside his hate of Ben, however misplaced it may have been. It was an age ago, and trying to picture Ben was futile now, her image of him was foggy at best. She was sure that she had surpassed his mortality now though, fast approaching her twenties.

Violets voice brought her back from where she had gone to. Ryan was shivering at the sudden temperature drop that came with the suns complete disappearance.

"She's shaking like a leaf guys. Look Lilly, you've got doubts, but she's answered our questions, been straight with us. Can we just iron this out up there? We outnumber her. I doubt she has the energy to bring a spoon to her mouth nevermind pick a fight." Violet implored. 

"She only came clean after we caught her out! And she sure did a number on her partner for such a frail ass bitch." Lilly spat, unenarmoured with their captive guest. Clementines stomach rumbled something fierce, tipping the scales to Violets line of thinking even if Lilly was correct about Ryans evasion. Yet she found herself making excuses for her anyway.

"Maybe she got muddled with her words?  She does sound foreign. Maybe English isn't her first language?" She said, grasping at straws. Her tummy growled again, screaming as the smell of the food above wafted down. She hoped it hadn't burnt in Minnie and Louis' absence.

"I'm Brassilian. Sorry for my English." Ryan apologised in identifying herself a little more. Her accent was thick but nothing she needed to apologise for, she spoke well in spite of it.

"Don't apologise, we understand you just fine" Louis said reassuringly. Lilly was still reluctant to stand down. Questions and accusations no doubt crowding her mind. Clementine attempted to assauge them enough to relent her defenses just enough.

"I'm not so sure I'd tell the truth outright to a bunch of strangers either if I'd killed someone, Lilly. Justified or not. Maybe we give her the benefit of the doubt? For tonight at least. We did get The Greenbrier from the guy... she was probably heading that way too. Maybe we could use the extra body?"

Lilly visibly wrestled with her instincts. At odds with everything her gut told her, she relented marginally, allowing Clementines plea to nudge her into yeilding to her and Violets wishes. She backed up giving Clementine breathing space, then stepped aside, her frame still rigid.

"On your heads be it." She said, jaw clenched. Violet didn't waste any time, ushering Ryan up the ladder hastily. Both Louis and Minne climbed up the rear leaving Clementine to express gratitude on their behalf.

"Thank you, Lilly. The moment she causes trouble, we ditch her." Clementine said, trying to show understanding of Lillys doubts.

"Whatever. That moment could be one too late for one of us." She said, pushing past Clementine, leaving her alone with her own confliction.

Descending into the tower Clementine found their new guest the centre of everybodys attention. Minnie and Louis were both dishing up bowls of freshly cooked pasta, the aroma of unidentified spices drifting strongly around the room...

Violet still sat with Ryan, sympathy for the woman easily detectable. Aasim was close by in hushed conversation with Sophie, likely relaying what limited knowledge he had of Ryan and the reason for her presence here. She was glad he seemed to be perking up.

Clem studied him as he talked, specifically his hands, resting on his legs. The shakes Sophie had mentioned were barely noticeable, certainly not as concerning as she had made out earlier. Clementine hoped the meal being handed to him would do his recovery a great service.

AJ and Tenn both remained quiet, observing Ryan with great interest as the flickering glow from the stove illuminated her features sporadically. Clementine chose to join them in their examination, though with much more subtlety.

Ryan was extremely dark skinned, her  features existing only a few shades shy of an almost Onyx like beauty. Her lips were full and her eyes were piercing in their feline like nature, though they were noticebly puffed up due to the crying she had done. She kept her head down in her new environment, her hair short and afro.

It was hard for Clementine to pin point her exact age but she looked to be approaching her forties, the same lines starting by her eyes that Lilly wore. Though her spooked disposition left her coming across more like an introverted teenager.

Soon bowls were being passed around the circle until each had their own meal to consume. Ryan finally raised her head upon being given hers, her shyness not making her rude.

"Thank you... very much!" She started, but Louis held up his hand.

"Hey, no need to thank us! This is your food after all! We should be thanking you - apologising even!" He smiled warmly, turning off the stove, momentarily throwing them all into complete darkness. 

He illuminated the atmosphere again a few seconds later with a flashlight, standing it upright in the middle of everyone.

Ryan nodded in acknowledgement, taking a mouthful of the pasta immediately afterwards. Clementine listened to AJ, who was in mid conversation with Tenn as she ate.

"It looks different to yours though"

"Well maybe she didn't get it from a fire like I did?" Tenn said in response through his food. 

Clementine looked over Ryan again, identifying the point of their discussion. Only now could she see it properly under a brighter, steadier light source.

Ryan wore a partial discoloration on her face, it covered a portion of her forehead from her hairline, down over one eye and the bridge of her nose, fading off just below her left cheek. 

She interjected at this juncture as their talk of Ryans blemish did not seem particularly sensitive.

"Hey, that's rude, guys. Hush up and eat your food!" She directed, trying to keep her voice down. However Ryan spoke up, appearing to have overheard their rather candid examination.

"Is a birthmark." She began defensively. "I wass born with it. My- my mother, she use to call it a blue sign. She said it wass a gift from God. But I would not call it anything but another reason to doubt hiss love for me." 

Clementine could sympathize with her here, not that she herself had ever been religious as such. But for those that were, being dealt every day obstacles was enough to challenge their faith as it was, without having to carry one in their genetic makeup like a beacon to be pointed at and asked about with every new introduction.

"This world has enough hell in it to break anyones belief in heaven..." Louis said, siding with Ryan in her dubiety.

"He hass dealt me worse. I half always tried to overcome. I do not understand why he brought this rapture, but it iss a rapture that tests us all as one. I can take comfort in that at least." She said.

"You can take comfort in my marksmanship" Lilly muttered, clearly irritated at Ryans inferences toward religion. Lilly never made any bones about being a devout athiest. If she wasn't sidelined in her quest to wolf down her pasta Clementine was sure she'd have a lot more to say.

There were many questions Clementine herself wanted to direct at Ryan, but she held off, normally preferring to learn her facts one to one without others to change course with their own enquiries.

Aasim put forth one of his own, though it was asked with general surface communication in mind, trying to avoid more invasive questioning.

"So you and uh, the guy you were with, you were heading to The Greenbrier?"

"Yes. Dmitri thought there could be a chance for uss there. We had planned to move in a few dayss time. But- but that wass before he did what he did to me." She answered.

"I'm still not clear on that. Why would this Dmitri decide to just start raping you now?" Lilly started. Her question drew glares from Violet and Minnie but she would not allow it to shake her. "No! I'm serious. It doesn't make sense to me. I want to know!"

"There's a fucking time and a place, Lilly!" Violet said, staunch in her defence. She hadn't yet touched her food, the wisps of heat escaping upward from the bowl at her side.

"And that time is before I go to sleep with a murderer in our midst!" Lilly fired back. They were all surprised to hear Sophie daring to scoff at this. She spoke up in front of them all, a rare act.

"We're all murderers! I'm a murderer! You made me one! When you took me away to fight a war I had no stake in! You- you had no fucking right you know... And throwing around that word like we haven't all got a body count is fucked."

Silence fell at the conclusion of her short lived outburst as everyone looked between her and Lilly, some with food in mid air on their spoons. Sophie however didn't give Lilly the chance to defend her position, even though Clementine doubted she had a satifactory comeback.

Sophie stood up quickly, averting her eyes from anyone elses, her face flushed red. She darted to the hatch, triggering Minnie and Tenn to follow impulsively.

"I just need some air!" She shouted back down in attempt to calm their panic. But they followed anyway, as they invariably did whenever one of them had a crisis visibly boiling over.

Clementine wondered what Ryan must be thinking of them right now. After all she probably had more right than they at this moment to be disconcerted in their presence. Sure, they had been brought her into their shelter but it had happened with much resistance from Lilly. And they had fed her - with the food they had stolen from her.

It didn't exactly paint their morality in a positive light. And to make matters worse Clementine was sure that Ryan could sense the fractured nature of their group as a whole. She wouldn't be surprised to find her gone when they woke next morning.

AJ was the one to break the silence after finishing his last spoonful of pasta. Clementine believed it to be an attempt at making Ryan feel less guilty about what she had done to Dmitri.

"I'm a murderer too. Right Clem? I killed Marlon remember." Clementine cringed at AJs misreading of the room. This act did not need to be forced back into the minds of those who had been witness to it. She shot a look at Aasim who had very much reviled AJ after the shooting. He didn't speak but Clementine saw his jaw muscles contract in remembrance.

"Let's not go there, kiddo." She communicated to AJ first, widening her audience with her following attempt at relaxing the atmosphere. "I think what we say here is that we've all done things we regret. Nobody is innocent as much as we'd like to be. And we can't take those things back, but they don't have to define us overall. We've all done more good for each other. I know that. I'm sure Ryan is the same...."

This drew a beaming smile from Violet to Clementine for the first time since Ryan had entered their bubble. Her prickly demeanour disappearing in an instant now they were back in the same headspace. A team.

"Clem's right. We've all got a past. Ryan did what she did with good reason. And one thing thats for sure is her partner had no good reason for what he did. It doesn't matter why. He did it. And she shouldn't have to answer for whatever warped reasoning he did or didn't give." Violet said, confident in her stance and drawing no rebuttle from the rest present.

"Now, we're going to The Greenbrier tomorrow. Ryan, you're welcome to join us. If you want to. Sleep on it, get your head right. There's a place for you here." She finished.

Ryan had sat throughout the events with palpable awkwardness. She hesitated to speak and answer to Violets offer, likely fearful of a glaring Lilly barking out if she accepted. So instead she took to a half nod. Which was enough to set Lilly immediately upon passively agressively marching everyone to their slumber.

"We move out at sun rise. And I won't be waiting on any of you tomorrow so you better get in what little opportunity for sleep you have left. Lights out." She ordered, trying to strong arm herself back into a position of authority. 

Lilly then switched off, making a show of lying on her side, back to the group. Everyone else looked to each other, some with clear contempt for Lilly; Louis being one of them.

"I'll go get the other three" He said, moving swiftly up out of the hatch. Clementine set about making her and AJs spot a little more comfortable, fluffing up her jacket as much as she could for him to lay his head on.

Clementine then beckoned Violet to join her, which she did, bringing Ryan with her. She allowed herself to be directed to a space to lie beside the trio. Settling in lightly and without words.

Aasim plunged them all into darkness, clicking off the flashlight. Clementine lay on her back staring into it, listening to him get comfy, her hands returned to where they should be - in AJ and Violets grasp. 

He could be heard inhaling and exhaling deeply, as though physically readying himself for the biggest of sleeps one could experience ahead of an equally titanic tranference of self. It would be a big ask to get to The Greenbrier in his condition but she held onto the hope Lilly had done enough to save his life, she guessed they would find out soon enough.

Quiet movement in their midst signalled the return of Minne, Tenn, Louis and Sophie. Though non of them spoke as they lay down together.

Clementine barricaded her brain from outside distractions now, finding herself soon falling away peacefully despite the ups and downs the day had brought, and the complications that continued to cause ripples through the group. She had been barely aware of the movement her lips made when she spoke, her own voice sounding far off in the distance.

"I love you." She said.

"I love you." Violet replied dreamily.

"I love you." AJ whispered.

Clementine tightened her grip on those she would die for. Or at least she thought she did. She couldn't be sure if her fingers had followed through on her wishes from the other side of conciousness.


	13. Losing Ones Mind.

*

She was back in the basement with Brody. The stuttering croak once again present in her vocal chords as they transformed; along with her reanimating corpse. Stirring out of sight and in the shadows.

Clementine knew her task - she had to find the flashlight. Finding the flashlight always invariably lead to her extraction from the nightmare. She just had to follow the blinking beams of its dying light. Except she couldn't. 

In this version there was no such beam to aid Clementine in her search. Just her own sense of touch along the cold, stone floor, her hands flailing frantically at the sound of Brody getting to her feet and beginning to stagger around.

Clementine could hear her distressing snarl growing, the richocheting echo of it around each wall of the basement making it hard to pinpoint just how close Brody was to success in her search to consume Clementines throat.

Too close it turned out. Her hand had palmed down on something round lying on the ground, tightening her grip on it she realised it was the base of the flashlight. She had found it. But in that moment Brody also found her, bowling Clementine over onto her back and knocking the light source from her hands.

Her head hit the stone floor beneath her, causing a disorientation that thankfully only lasted a few moments, dissipating just in time for her to stick her knees up to her chest as Brody threw herself on top of Clementine. Roaring and gnashing her teeth with only a single desire on her hijacked mind in the black hole they fought in.

Clementine resolved to keep Brody at arms length, pushing her knees and by extension Brodys clawing hands at bay while she reached out to the flashlight, the only thing she could now use to disable her wouldbe killer. She stretched desperately, willing her fingernails to grow the extra half inch they needed to to roll the flashlight back toward her - igniting it and bashing Brodys bathed features into anonymity.

But it was too late. Clementine felt the splatter of warmth pebble over her face. Brody must have sunk her teeth into an artery. Clementine always figured that getting bit would immediately result in a severe drop in strength, or drive.

However she found it was quite the opposite. Even as Brodys dead weight got moreso Clementine found her legs still pumping, her own blood still cascading down her face as she extended them enough to push Brody off. Calling out into the darkness as she exherted her lungs before for bloodloss took her away from here.

She heard Brody hit the ground with a thwack, her gutteral noises still ringing in Clementines ears. She still didn't know what missing piece of flesh her blood escaped from but she jumped into action anyway.

Though her attempt to end Brody was halted by another bodiless figure, restricting her arms behind her back and shouting out, though the buzzing of Brodys screeching drowned out whoever it was.

Then the flashlight was ignited. Clementine was awake. Bathed in its blinding light from the left. Turning her face from it she saw her attacker on the ground.

Brody had stopped her gruesome growling. She had stopped moving. She had stopped doing anything at all. Going even so far as ceasing to exist.

Clementine let out a wail of confusion, still in her restrained state. A sense of PTSD coarsing through her synapses as tears began to slip from her eyes, mixing in with the blood dripping from her chin.

Aasim lay, undisturbed in an expired condition. His eyes were wide open, but devoid entirely of any pigment they had once had. Just a look that said his soul no longer resided behind them. 

He was dead.


	14. A Bubble Burst.

*

Many things happened in the next sixty minutes, a lot of it for which Clementine found herself barely cognizant, sat motionless in a state of shock for what had happened to Aasim.

It had been incredibly hard for her to process the many voices clashing with each other as they vyed for supremecy over the situation. Though it had been confusion that ultimately reigned. And with the confusion came accusations. Misinformed and of murder.

She collected only fragments of the altercation that had raged between them, briefly becoming physical as Lilly disabled Ryan, slamming the womans face into the water towers floor with a sickening crack.

The flashlight rolled away from her hand still illuminated, though the hue it now created was crimson in colour, bloodied and cracked much the same as the one Clementine had used to destroy Brodys face with. But Aasims was intact. 

And it wouldn't be until his body was lifted carefully from its resting spot to the dawn breaking outside that it was noticeable the top of his head had buckled inward fatally. Likely from the repeated blows of the flashlight.

Ryan had squarked in protest at her detainment but her accent was hard to understand as it got considerably more agitated at the position she found herself in. Mashing Portuguese and English together in distress.

"Não! No! Por favor! I did not kill him!"

"Bitch you've got his blood all over you!" Lilly spat. Clementine had panicked at the mention of this, a shot of adrenaline burst through her body, springing her mind back to lucidity as she grabbed at various parts of herself, mainly her neck and head in search of the wound the now dried blood caking her face had spilled from.

In doing so her hand had been grabbed, but not in restaint like before. This felt different, and gentle. Familiar in its grip.

"Shh, Clem. It's okay. It's not yours." Violets voice came from her side. Clementine would have searched her face had she not been fixated on the events unfolding in front of her.

Minnie and Sophie were now trying to pry Lilly from her position on top of Ryan, who continued to cry out in pain at the formers persistent roughing up in search for an admission of guilt in the downfall of a boy who had gone to sleep in relative health.

"We- we need to get the blood off your face, Clem. Come on, we don't need to see this." Clementine felt herself be lifted to her feet and lead away then, out of the hatch and further astray, the vitriol waning from her earshot as the two reached the Allegheny River.

Violet placed Clem down, making sure she was steady enough in her position like a mother trying to properly sit up her young child. The she removed her own top and plunged it into the chilly waters, balling it up when it resurfaced in order to wring it out some.

Then she leant into Clementine and dabbed away at the blood bathing her traumatized features. Drawing it down her cheeks a little heavier when the same blood resisted removal. Then down her neck and slightly exposed collarbones.

"Are you okay, Clem?" Violet asked, utter concern in her words. Clementine was sure she was not okay. But there were more important needs she had than to be consoled.

"What happened?" She asked. Violet stuttered in her response.

"W-well, uh, you don't remember? I'm not sure we really know. I mean, I know what I saw when the light came on, b-but as far as what came before, I was hoping you could tell us." Clementine racked her brain, the memory evaded her in shards, nicking at her every time she tried to catch one.

"I'm not sure. I r-remember Brody. I think I was having a nightmare. Of being locked in the basement with her. I was fighting her off and- and then the flashlight came on. And it wasn't her anymore. It was Aasim. I think he attacked me. He was on top of me until I was able to kick him off" She said, recounting what she could as Violet listened intently.

"Attacked you? Why would he do that, Clem?" She didn't know. It didn't seem to make any sense to her either.

"I don't know. Did- did I kill him?" Clementine asked fearful of what the answer would do to her already fragile psyche. Violet shook her head though mercifully.

"I don't think so, Clem. We all saw Ryan with the flashlight in her hand. I think she hit him from behind in the head while he was on top of you. I- i think she killed him saving you." Violet presumed.

"God, if she hadn't of- if you'd have died like that. While we all slept.... oh, Clem! He must have been out of his fucking mind." She started to shake a little herself, either through the cold or the anxiety building at Clementines near miss.

She submerged her top into the water again, dyeing the river the colour of Aasims death. "Pinch your nose, and hold your mouth shut." She warned, holding it over Clementines head and wringing it again, the unpurified water splashing down on her face as she obliged Violets ask.

The cleansing gave her time to think a little deeper, the cold air colliding with the water on her pores. She found it helped to heal the blind spots. The flare the ignition of the flashlight had left imprinted on her retinas receded in her recollection.

Ryan had been holding the torch light in her fist. And Clementine had been on top of Aasim ready to kill him herself for what he had tried to do to her. But it was the last thing she had seen before going into shock that threw everything together. And it flashed up again unwanted on her brain as her recall caught up. 

Aasims eyes. When she'd looked into them, they'd already frosted over. Glazed white from the deep brown they should have been only moments after suffering Ryans fatal blow.

"He was out of his mind." Clementine said, addressing Violets earlier comment.

"Huh?" She said, perplexed.

"Aasim was out of his mind. It wasn't his anymore. He was already dead when he attacked me! He- he must have passed in his sleep and- and come back during the night.... then he attacked me and I must have thought I was dreaming!" Clementine explained.

"Fuck..." Violet expressed. Cogs turning as she made sense of the rest. "Which means nobody killed him. Not you. Not Ryan... shit. She did save you... but from a walker!"

"And Lilly is pulling her arms out of her sockets right now." Clementine realised. She stood up and lost her balance in the haste to repay her debt to Ryan. Instead toppling over.

Violet helped her to her feet and started to aid her advance back to the tower. She wanted Violet to go ahead with the information but knew it would do nothing for Lilly. She'd need to hear it from someone who saw the events first hand.

Reaching the tower brought back the sounds of melee going on inside it. Lillys aggression could be heard at heights not experienced since she blew Carleys face off and the twins begging for amnesty on behalf of Ryan rang out. 

It was only when Clementine quite literally fell through the hole in passing a mourning Louis and Tenn over Aasims lifeless body on her charge to reveal the truth that the quiet whimpering from Ryan could be heard.

Her appearance silenced the others in their tracks. Minnie and Sophie were stood at arms length of Lilly who had her the barrell of her rifle pushed squarely against the centre of Ryans forehead. The other side of which was pressed against the tower wall.

"I'm going to paint this wall with your fucking brains, you hear me? I think they'd look nice next to the kids mural." Lilly threatened, finger on the trigger. Ryan pleaded from her knees but Lilly shook her head.

"Shut the fuck up. You murdered one of us. You don't get to walk away from that." Clementine got to her feet and spoke, keeping Lilly from her mission.

"She didn't murder anyone!" She shouted. 

"You were there Clementine! You saw her holding the fucking flashlight! With half of Aasims head on the end of it! How can-" Clementine cut her off, she knew how she could say that.

"If you just stopped to think for once instead of acting on impulse you'd know! Aasim attacked me and Ryan saved me, Lilly."

"And why the fuck would he do that, huh?" Lilly asked, muzzle of her gun still boring into Ryans forehead.

"He wouldn't! Thats the point! He wasn't Aasim anymore, Lilly. He was dead! I worked it out when I saw his eyes. They were pale and icy seconds after Ryan hit him. That's too fast... he must have died in his sleep..." Clementine explained.

She saw Lillys resolve falter a little then at a realisation this news had her come to. "So it didn't work... trying to save him by the river." She pointed out, dejected. This split second distraction courtesy of her own mind was enough, with Minnie lunging forward and ripping the rifle from her.

"Paint the wall with her brains, really??" She said, distaste at the aborrent threat Lilly had made. It was expected for her to respond in her usual defensive tone of done no wrong but this time she didn't. She just withdrew from the scene, despondent as she did so.

The remainder of the hour saw the group splintered. Keeping busy to hold the dark clouds of mourning from consuming them.

James and Louis had taken to digging a grave for Aasim beneath the tower and within the perimeters of the four beams holding it up. They had no tools to speak of but it didn't stop them, breaking the earth with their hands.

Tenn along with AJ had gotten to work drawing one of his trademark pieces. An Aasim as he had been, only somewhere else. Lilly had segregated herself from the group. Clementine knew his death had hit a nerve and wanted to console her, and she would in time. But for now she needed the space.

Minnie had the duty of making sure Sophie didn't completely capitulate, now with the knowledge that his heroics in saving her and Tenn had indeed been the death of him. This left Clementine, Violet and Ryan to pack everything up in preperation for their departure.

They had gathered up everyones belongings and backpacks and delivered them to the ground below. Violet had taken custody of the planned route for their destination as the last thing left in their temporary home. One they were all glad to vacate in result of the recent events.

"Okay. I think we've got everything." She'd said, waiting for Clementine to exit the place for the final time.

"Can I catch up with you in a second?" She asked, though it was more of a statement. Violet nodded, removing herself from the tower, still without her top dry enough to wear. Thankfully her denim body warmer covered her up leaving only her arms exposed.

Her vacation of the room left Clementine and Ryan alone. She had calmed down now somewhat in Lillys absense. Though her extremely short stint with the group had already left her looking weary in her shell. Clementine doubted she had slept a wink, and thankfully so as it meant she'd been awake to help save her.

The sun had started to rise enough to luminate the inside of the tower now, and Ryan had taken to looking over the mural Tenn, AJ and Sophie had made together only a couple of days before. The one her brains could have been splattered next to if Clementine had gotten there any later. 

They were all there in crayon. Easy to identify and with happy smiles on their faces. Clementine joined Ryan and spoke to her for the first time since it had happened.

"I'm going to say something that I'm pretty sure nobody has even thought to say to you yet between all the accusations and threats. And that's thank you. Thank you for saving my life, Ryan." She said, full of gratitude.

"I'm sorry I took your friend." She said in return. Almost regret in her eyes.

"You didn't take Aasim. You took the walker he'd become. The night before you got here he'd done something reckless yet fearless to save some members of our group. We thought maybe he was getting better, but I guess we were wrong..." Clementine lamented her false belief of his improvement.

"God has always taken those who don't desserve it. We don't know why- we juss have to accept it and hope they have gone somewhere better. At least in this world we know that they half." She said, withdrawing a necklace from her pocket and clicking open the small locket attached to it. She caressed her thumb over the picture inside before handing it to Clementine.

She had expected to see an ex lover, or a  young child. But it was neither of those. In fact it was hard to tell exactly what the two pictures she was looking at were until Ryan made it clear.

"I miscarried twice before, in the old world. I never even got to meet my babies. You're looking at the ultra sounds. When they still had a chance, when I still had hope. I don't know why God took them, and it took me a long time to cope with the lack of answers." She recounted, pain at the past etching on her face as Clementine was sure it had done countless times before.

"I'm sorry, Ryan. It might sound strange to you, but I've had scares of losing a baby too. I've looked after AJ his whole life, and its been a miracle keeping him safe sometimes. He's survived being shot, left out in the snow, illnesses, he even almost got trampled by a horse at a ranch a while back... shit. I'm sorry. I guess that's not something you really want to hear..." Clementine trailed off, handing the necklace back to Ryan.

She shook her head as she clasped it shut.

"Like I say, I half found a way to live with my loss. It's been a long, long time. Even if it still tries me sometimes..."

"Did, uh, Dmitri help you with that?" Clementine asked cautiously, aware she was bringing up another sore spot for Ryan. Another loss.

"Yes. He wass my therapist afterward. Losing my second child, it wass too much. He helped me in ways I would never half thought. We became close, helping each other as the yearss passed... we found a solace in each other that I could never get from anyone since. Not relationships, family. Even God." 

She slipped the locket back into her baggy pants, keeping her touch on it. "But he betrayed me. Now, I have nothing but myself to trust." She shrugged, all sympathy for the man she had once leant so heavy on vanished by his actions.

"Do you know why he would do something like that to you? I mean, he helped you through all that, and you two make it this far together... for him to just throw it all away?" Clementine tried one last time in the absence of Lilly, tact and tenderness in her questioning.

Ryan this time was more forthcoming in return. "We had something more, for a time. But it was a mistake. I tried to go back to how thingss had been but he struggled to re-adjust. He kept making passes at me in his dessires for months. I guess in the end his feelings for me made him do something I doubt even he thought possible in himself."

"Well I'm sorry he did. It must make faith in people a hard thing after something like that." Clem stated, knowing what her own trust issues had meant on her journey to where she was now. How she had denied herself food and shelter from people at points in the past due to bad vibes that were no doubt unfounded. Even the chance of love because of it. She would be forever thankful that Violet had managed to penetrate the walls around her heart.

"It doess. But I am here now and we are heading to the same place, so maybe there iss a chance for me to heal that poison inside me." Ryan replied. "I think I will wait for you a distance away. While you have the funeral." She said, changing direction. She moved away and toward the hatch, pausing briefly to look over the blood stains left by behind by Aasim.

"Thank you again, Ryan. You don't know what you've allowed me to carry on living for. I'm forever grateful. The group is hurting right now but they're not going to hold this against you. You can be one of us now." Clementine said sincerely.

Ryan nodded curtly, and left Clementine alone with her thoughts in front of the mural. She studied the drawing that saw them all well, free of burden and the horrors they were experiencing now in the real world.

She looked around the floor and spotted a solitary crayon, which she picked up. Clementine wasn't great with expressing herself in art form, and she knew her addition may look somewhat tawdry to the strangers that may inhabit this place in the future, but she didn't care.

The crayon was the wrong colour as she edited the picture but that was okay. The intent was evident anyway. She stepped back and cringed a little at her addition but waved it away in her mind. Aasims figure now adorned a green halo above his head. She didn't believe in angels in the biblical sense, but she had met many people on the ground who deserved to be. He was one of them for giving his life, however inadvertently.

She vacated the room for the last time too then. Refusing to look at the stained floor, that wouldn't be the last thing she saw of their transient haven. She would give the mural that distinction.

At the bottom she found the grave had been dug out enough to place Aasim inside once they were ready. Lilly could be seen off in the distance by the river, unwillling or unable to face her percieved failure.

"Is she coming?" Tenn asked.

"I think its best we leave her where she is. She can join us if she wants to" Minnie said, rubbing his head comfortingly.

"Okay. I guess we should do this then." Louis said with melancholy. He knelt down at Aasims side and with the help of James they lowered him down into the hole they had made for him. A look to Sophie showed the track marks of tears down her cheeks as she watched on silently, Violet there for support.

Louis and James climbed out of the hole and addressed the present members of the group. "I thought we could all help cover him up." Louis said. "Then we can say a few words- if we want to."

This made Tenn and AJ step foward. The former holding the drawing they had made to his chest while AJ spoke up for them both.

"We don't really have anything to say, but we wanted to show everyone the picture we drew for Aasim." AJ started.

"And then we wanted to bury it with him. So he will always have us there..." Tenn added maturely. "So- so can we hold off on burying him first?"

Louis nodded in acceptance. "It's a good place to start, guys." He said, stepping back and letting the two young kids take front and centre in their presentation. They all observed the drawing as Tenn revealed it.

There was a huge house. Wide as it was tall. Big windows and doors across the page. It looked grander than the other houses Tenn had always drawn in the background. AJ provided description of the work.

It's The Green- uh, the hotel! Where we're going! And that's us, all stood together. I chose where everybody should stand" he said proudly. 

Naturally this saw Clementine flanked by himself and Violet taking up room on the left of the page. The centre of both their worlds they held her hands.

The right side had the three siblings be together. Tenn in the middle of Sophie and Minerva. Also holding hands. Surprisingly between the two sets stood Louis, directly in the middle of the line.

"I chose Louis to be in the middle, now that he doesn't have Aasim I thought it would be nice for him to have all of us instead." Louis smiled at AJs decision, hiding the pain of losing his friend to thank the thought.

"That's lovely, little man. I hope I have you all around me for a long time." He said, patting AJ on the shoulder. "Compliments to the artist too, Tenn. That's a real strong jawline I have there."

Clementine noted Lilly and James on the either edges of the picture. The outliers of the cast. Either through an inability to play nice or struggling to find their place. She knew Lillys place would continue to be in flux for as long as they stayed together, unable to truly let herself become part of anything. She hoped that James would eventually integrate though. Hopefully the masks he was making could be that ticket.

At the top of the page, near the sun, more figures had been drawn, suspended above the rest, looking down upon them. Tenn took the lead here.

"We didn't want Aasim to be alone up there. So we drew the others we have lost so they could all be together like before." AJ helped to point them out. 

"This is Willy, Mitch, Omar, Ruby... and Brody. We didn't know if we should draw Marlon... so we added Rosie instead. That's her..." he pointed to the canine in the picture, just in case it was hard to tell the animal apart. This made Clementine smile. She was proud of the signs of maturity he was beginning to show and yet retaining his innocence. She was thankful that his friendship with Tenn had allowed that.

"That's a beautiful drawing you two." She said. "Aasim would have loved it." The two beamed in response. Their ability to cope with the deaths of the people they knew using such a positive outlet was something Clementine hoped they could continue to use as they both grew older. They would need to as the family shrunk despite their best efforts.

They watched as Tenn folded up the picture and handed it to Louis, who took it and leant by Aasims body.

"Here you go, buddy." He said. "I'm going to put this in his pocket okay, you two? That way it won't get dirt on it when we all cover him over." Tenn and AJ agreed with this call, encouraging him to do so.

"So, uh, shall we do this?" Louis said then, standing by one of the small piles of disturbed earth. They all took their positions silently and began to cover Aasim up. Clementine made a point of letting her eyes haze as she did so, not wanting to see Aasim physically disappear under cover of the dirt they pulled back in.

Soil stamped all of their fingers and palms, wrists and forearms by the time they had finished. They stayed on their knees hesitant to move away. Doing so would signal the end of this coming together for him, leaving him behind while they got to continue their lives, despite the peril of it.

Minnie was the first to break the silence. Placing one of her blackened palms on top of the dirt and addressing Aasim directly.

"I don't know if you're listening. I hope you are though. Somewhere better. I just want you to know that even though we didn't really have much in the way of a connection, at the school or after, I will never forget you. What you did for my brother and sister. You're fucking crazy for doing it, but that doesn't matter to me. You helped save them and now I'm going to be able to hold them, and appreciate their love for however long we have left. So thank you. Your memory doesn't die here." She said.

Tenn reached forward then, stretching his little arms out to rest his hand on top of Minnies. "Yeah. We'll keep it alive until we join him on the other side. Then, we can thank him properly. And see the others too. Where its happy."

"And without monsters." AJ chimed in. Following his friend in putting his hand on top of Tenns. Sophie weeped, but found strength enough to speak up too.

"I'll keep y-your diary, Aasim. Don't worry, I won't look at what you've written. I'll just keep it going f-for you. Starting with what you did for me, and Tenn and Minnie at the river. People will read about you. I'm sorry you didn't make it..." she finished, following suit and adding to the pyramid.

"Oh, Aasim. Sophie here might have the good nature to not look at what you've written about us all in secret, but I can't say I won't. Sorry, buddy!" Louis joked. Clementine, Violet and James found they had nothing to add other than general appreciation for his heroics. 

However they still joined in with the solidarity, resting a hand each on top of the others until they were all joined together in touch and sorrow at the loss beneath the soil.

Relinquishing their position only after a minutes silence for Aasim. Minnie wiped her eyes with her sleeve and stood up then. "We should wash up by the river. Then I guess we're done here." She said, beckoning the rest to join them. Most of which did so.

Clementine didn't want to travel with sodden sleeves so she rolled up her jacket up past her elbows to wash the dirt clean before they departed. The water was as icy as it had been when she jumped in after Aasim the other night and it flowed up through her, the feeling almost painful.

She dried her arms on her jeans once she was done. Allowing AJ to do so on her as well as the damp would be more uncomfortable for him going forward.

They all came together to help each other shoulder their rucksacks of food and belongings, all weighing heavily on them as Lilly found her voice to give a plan of action for the coming day.

"We have two hundred and forty miles ahead of us. On foot. We'll be doing well to take off thirty miles per day with the equipment we have to carry. Which has us looking at reaching The Greenbrier in eight to ten days." She informed her audience.

"I've taken the liberty of marking off every thirty miles from here to The Greenbrier where we will stop over for the night. The map only had rough terrain for me to work with so besides state parks like Coopers Rock we're going to have to find shelter as we come across it." Lilly paused to run through her mind searching what else she had to relay.

"Of course we'll be unable to account for unforseen circumstances. Attacks, from herds or otherwise, opportunities to scavenge and the like. But hopefully all of these things will be minimal and we can reach our destination in one piece." 

She looked to the sky, rifle back over her slinged up shoulder, backpack on the other.

"We should move now. Cover as much ground as possible while we can. Let's not fall behind before we even start." Lilly finished then, declining to wait for confirmation she pushed off leaving the rest to catch up.

"She sure iss a tough taskmaster." Ryan said to nobody in particular.

"Lilly's former military. It's in her blood." Clementine commented in return.

"Poor fucking recruits." Minnie said.

"And that'll be us for the next week." Louis replied, pretending to dither in fear. Clementine nudged him in the side.

"You don't have to like her, hell, you've all made that clear. But I know that woman. She'll get us there if we keep up and let her lead. Even if it feels like she does so with an iron fist." She said, fighting Lillys corner.

"We should catch up." Sophie said, watching Lilly shrink into the distance.

"Should we?" Louis mocked. But they did so anyway, having to take longer strides to close the distance Lilly had already put between them.

Violet held Clementine back though.

"Forgetting something my love?" She asked, waiting for Clementine to read her mind.

"Uhh, you?" She replied, unaware. Violet shook her head, hands behind her back. Clementine rolled her eyes up into her head thinking, it was this act that made her realise.

"My hat!" Violet smiled at Clementines success, presenting it to her gift-like in both hands.

"It's a good job that thing is usually hard wired onto your head otherwise I might have forgotten to find it earlier." She said, teasing. Clementine took it, but she noticed it was missing the D from the front. It had finally come away completely. She felt a little depressed learning this.

"Yeah, I know" Violet said, seeing her look of dejection. "But I did find it. Maybe we can fix it back on at some point?" She proposed, taking the letter from inside her jeans and sliding it into Clementines.

She put her hat on anyway, the comfort of its presence cheering her up some.

"Thanks, Vi. With everything that happened today I'd probably have forgotten it." She said, taking her hand.

"Yeah. It's been pretty damn terrible so far." Violet agreed regrettably.

"Oh I wouldn't go that far, Vi. After all I did finally get to see you stripped down to your bra. That counts for something." Clementine said, pecking her on the lips. Violet blushed in return.

"Shut up" She said jokingly. A call in the far off beckoned them to rejoin the others so they set off walking hand in hand, leaving The Greenbrier to reside in their past.

So, I saw you have got an outie?" Clementine said, recalling Violets navel.

"Oh my god, Clem. Shut up!" She said, blushing some more.

"I guess opposites really do attract!" Clementine replied, giggling.


	15. Death at the Door.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Might edit.

*

Two days later and they had persevered enough to find themselves slightly ahead of schedule, according to Lilly at least.

The first day had gone without much of a hitch other than the complaints of tiredness from the younger two, which Clementine knew was to be expected. As long as they didn't start asking "Are we there yet?" She could live with the  occasional grumble.

Walkers had been plentiful but no more than one or two got in their path at any one time which made executing them a non event.

They had settled for the night just outside of a town called Elizabeth as the road leaving it had looked too long for them to traverse before nightfall.

Hartmans Auto Body Shop had been where they'd laid their heads. Its size had been ideal for keeping them all snug in one office room and the small car lot outside crowded with broken vehicles had given them complete coverage from any potential seiges.

Opportunities for scavenging had been passed over in their steadfastness to cover as much ground as possible and in turn keep their luck from grinding to a halt. 

And thankfully it had held thus far with no run ins to speak of as they arrived at their second stopping point, a place called Uniontown. 

Passing the sign signifying their arrival there had prompted another episode of 'Factoids with Lilly' that had started in Elizabeth where she had informed the group that it had been named after a real woman called Elizabeth Mackay Bayard, though she failed to elaborate on what made her so special.

"Uniontown. Birthplace of the great George Marshall! Military leader. Secretary of State and, Secretary of Defence-" she's started.

"Not a very good one by the looks of it..." Minnie said sarcastically. Lilly shot her a spiteful look.

"He passed away long before you or I were even thought of, kid. And have some respect." Lilly added though this made a few snigger at her hypocrisy.

"Anything else?" Violet asked, trying to keep the peace. Lilly thought for a few moments before she relinquished a rather inferior achievement in her mind.

"Also the birthplace of The Big Mac."

"Now that's what I'm talkin' about!" Louis said happily until he realised he hadn't had one in a very long time and knowing he likely never would again. AJ tugged on Clementines sleeve. 

"What's a Big Mac?" He asked innocently, furrowing his forehead when Louis laughed at such a question, forgetting AJ had been born knowing only the apocalypse.

"It's a food, made from animals. Like the ones we hunt sometimes? They used to take the meat and cook it, then they would but it between pieces of bread so people could eat it. A burger." She explained patiently.

"Oh. Whats bread?" He followed up. Clementine shook her head, she didn't have enough patience to go down that rabbithole.

"Don't worry about it, Kiddo. It's been a long time since anybody has had any." She smiled, hoping he would let it go.

They stopped along a stretch of road between a strip mall and a hospital about two clicks in to debate the merits of holing up for the night in either one of them.

"We're better moving on to the hospital." Lilly announced, finality in her desire though the debate was only just starting.

"You mean the hospital where people go to die and by extension turn into walkers? That place will be crawling with them surely?" Louis argued.

"It's been years and years. Anyone that died in there will have either found their way out, or been cleared out by now." Lilly replied.

"And if they've been cleared out then the people that did it could still be there now!"

"Unlikely. The aim will have been to access and pick clean whatever meds they had in there before moving on. Look, we're not looking to find any ourselves, thats a fools errand. We're just staying the night. And others will have come to the same conclusion as I and pass this place over. If they don't, well you know what'll happen." Lilly adjusted her rifle slightly.

"You really need to stop being so trigger happy." Louis said, shaking his head.

"I'm rarely happy when I pull the trigger. Other than, you know, to be alive." She responded matter of factly.

"Well, I'm kinda done walking around in my Bra." Violet chimed in. "And I'm not too keen on the prospect of wearing a fucking hospital gown for the remainder of my days"

"Hospitals gowns are in this season, Vi, didn't you hear?" Minnie teased. "Just think of all that back you can show off."

"And AJ could still use some more clothes." Clementine reminded herself. "It looks like there's a goodwill across the way. Maybe we can find something there."

"Do whatever you want, but we're staying the night in the hospital. More floors, more exits in case things get ugly. I'm going to go scope it out and clear what walkers might be left inside."

Once again she marched off alone. Clementine looked around the group, all of which were quite happy to go to goodwill.

"She can't go on her own, guys. Someone needs to go help." Clementine said, wary of Lillys healing shoulder though she had now removed the sling. Silence followed which forced her into delegation.

"Well, I'm going to need AJ, and Violet wants stuff too. Louis, James, do me a solid and go with Lilly?" Louis huffed and James looked genuinely frightened of such a daunting ask.

"Oh, you owe me big time." Louis said, then he looked around the remaining members. "Who else then? A seven to three split doesn't seem ideal."

"Two of which are half people!" Violet snapped back.

"My point stands!" Louis said, whipping his chin skyward in mock defiance.

"Well I think Ryan and Lilly still need a little space, frankly." Clementine stated.

"And, if I can say, I think maybe Sophie should also come with us." Ryan said, finding her voice. She had slowly spoke up over the previous couple of days, getting to know them all individually and the stories of how they got to where they were now.

She had especially taken an interest in both AJ and Tenn. Clementine figured she thought it an opportunity to fill the longing inside for her own lost children before the outbreak.

"And why is that?" Minnie asked.

"Well, excusse me for pandering to, uh, gender stereotypes but in the old world, when women were feeling sad, they would go shopping, try on new clothess. It would be a way to bond with their friends and cheer up...." Ryan explained with the knowledge that the boarding school group probably hadn't experienced much of any retail therapy.

"That's kind of stupid." Minnie replied. Ryan smiled and nodded.

"Yess. But I thought in thiss case it was worth a shot."

"Well if there's a chance its going to cheer her up then I guess I don't mind. I'll take Tenn to the hospital with Louis and James. Then he gets his precious fifty-fifty split."

"Sweet, sweet victory!" He chortled. They all said their temporary goodbyes then, typical reminders to stay safe and the usual assurances that they would strive to do so.

The mall was only one story high and had a main entrance situated at both ends. Each store having its own front to enter and walk through to the centre strip where they could then access other stores if need be. 

Each set of automatic doors were found closed up, now long unoperational. Though this wasn't a problem, as closing them behind themselves would at least keep out any ambling walkers that may have spotted them from a distance.

The Goodwill door had been extremely stiff and Clementine found she needed both Ryan and Sophies help to pry them apart enough for them to slip through, thankful that they were all relatively slender. They closed it back up behind them as Violet shot around the mall making sure all the rest were airtight.

She'd come back out of breath but confirmed that they all indeed were which left them all free to 'shop till they drop' as Ryan had expressed. Another idiom from the old world.

A simple look around the large, elongated room told them that it hadn't stayed undisturbed after the outbreak had begun as various clothes racks lay on their side, some items without their hangers and vice versa. All kinds of pottery and china lay smashed into pieces on the carpeted floor in what was once the ornamental section.

The mass of clothing strewn about the place hardly gave Clementine much of a starting point in her quest to get AJ some new-old clothes so she plonked herself a top a particularly bunched up pile along with Violet, Sophie and Ryan and started sifting through them.

AJ had been collared by the toy section and Clementine was happy to let him peruse the ones that weren't broken as long as he didn't start using any of the stores pottery as target practice. She would call him over every now and then to try on a shirt over the top of what he was already wearing to save his awkwardness in front of the other girls.

Each one was either too big or too small. She didn't want any walkers being able to grab his shirt-tails and she also didn't want him to be restricted any in his movements so she found herself being quite picky. Verbalising her concerns made Ryan comment.

"You would be a wonderful mother if you ever had kids off your own" She said, confidently. Clementine knew it was a compliment but it still irked her slightly.

"I am a mother. And I won't be giving birth to any if I can help it. Not the way things are now. I've got AJ and thats enough for me." She replied, calling him over again, eventually coming across a long sleeved, leaf green t-shirt with a giraffes neck and head emblazened on the front.

It wasn't exactly 'cool' but it didn't need to be. Thankfully AJ had proved taken with it, intrigued at the creature on the front and equally as amazed to know they do, or did actually exist somewhere.

Clementine also found him a nice cotton jumper to wear for the remainder of the trip. Again long sleeved, and jet black with purposely vaguely drawn stars all over the front of it, background to a basic sketch of a gameboy at the forefront. Naturally this had Clementine trying to explain what a gameboy was with her own limited knowledge but she eventually got him in it and let him free to roam the toy aisles again.

Ryan had picked herself up some tight-looking pleather pants and a few other items, leaving the Goodwill to find a bathroom to change in.

"Okay, Vi. Your turn." Clementine said. "What kind of thing do you want?"

"As long as it isn't pink and puke inducing I'm not too bothered." Violet shrugged, picking up a pink crop top and chucking it over her shoulder violently.

"Any ideas, Soph?" Clementine asked, trying to bring her into the conversation a little.

"I'm just used to seeing her in anything plain. I've never known her to be a fan of colour. Right Vi?" Violet answered by pointing to her body warmer.

"I'm wearing blue. Right now!" She protested.

"I don't think a dirty, pale and washed out denim jacket counts as wearing colour, Vi." Clementine said, siding with Sophie. Violet laughed.

"You're one to talk! We basically dress exactly the same." She wasn't wrong, but Clementine countered regardless.

"Hey! I wear colour.... sometimes. I used to have this red leather jacket actually, it was pretty cool. But after a while I found it just attracted unwanted attention. It wasn't exactly camoflauging. So I ditched it."

"It's true!" They heard AJ call across the room, causing them to smile.

"Just give me something black and comfortable okay? I'm not going to be your mannequin." Violet said somewhat defensively. Clementine knew her to be reserved when it came to her physique, notably the complete opposite of her ex, Minnie, who bared her figure at most opportunities. In fact Violet seemed to be Minnies living antithesis aside from sharing the same sexuality.

Sophie rifled through some items to her right and came up with something a little less objectionable to Violet. It was black, V-necked and loosely cut without sleeves. Though the front seemed a little kitch to Clementine.

"A little on the nose, don't you think?" She said, looking at the half skull printed on the front of it.

"I can wear it ironically. It's not a fashion parade." Violet said, slipping off her jacket and trying it on. It was a little more feminine than what Clem had seen her wear before but she liked that. Violet had curves to show off but her previous attire sought to keep them subdued.

"Yeah, this is good enough. It's got an inner vest too, that comfort is really all I want." Violet said, standing up and looking down herself. "I did see a store when I was checking the doors earlier, looked a little more stylish. I'm gonna need a new jacket with this top" She finished. Clementine smirked at her declaration.

"I thought it wasn't a fashion parade" she teased. Violet went a little red but managed to save face.

"To cover my arms! I'm not Minnie, walking around with everything on show. No offence, Soph. But she does need to cover up. All it takes is a scratch." Violet said, turning her attention.

"I've tried, trust me." Sophie replied. Ryan returned then, pleather pants adorned tightly on her stick thin figure. She had swapped her dirtied vest top for another, this one bright white against her skin. She looked good for her age and the confidence her new clothes had given her was evident.

"Oh come on, theress no reason the apocalypse should keep uss from feeling sexy." She said, almost sashaying over to them.

"It'd rather feel safe." Violet said obstinately. "Can't feel sexy with half your intestines trailing on the floor."

Ryan tutted at Violets unwillingness to partake in what she obviously hoped in her head could be a chance to have some girly bonding time trying on new clothes.

"Oh, come on now. Thatss not the spirit! A new wardrobe can give you more confidence in yourselff! I certainly feel better now my ass iss lifted by this pants!" She shimmied a little in front of them and Clementine turned away to hide her cringeing. It was a repugnant thought that crossed her mind, but Ryan would have definitely been a source of embarassment at times to her daughters if this was how she acted around Clementine and the others.

"Look, stand up, Sophie! See, you have such a beautiful figure like your sister, but you cover it up too much. You half the right idea with the jeans but they are so old, you need new oness. But your top half, we can half some fun with this!" Ryan said, damn near cupping Sophies ample bust, currently held under wraps by a heavily cabled turtleneck which admittedly did bury her frame, dropping down almost to her knees.

"I- I like my jumper. It keeps me warm, like all the time" Sophie rebutted, bunching up the ends of the sleeves and  thumbing the inside of them apprehensively.

"And that's fine, but what about underneath thiss?" She said, slinking around the back of her, grabbing a handful of the wooly jumper hanging around her midriff and pulling it tightly. "You're so tiny here! I can almost touch my hands around your stomach! You make an old woman jealouss!" She half joked.

Ryan bent down and picked up the skimpiest piece of material she could find and held it up to Sophies figure. "Its hard to tell but you would look so good in thiss!" Violet was seemingly losing her patience with Ryans persistence in playing dress up with an apprehensive looking Sophie and almost snatched the halter necked top from her hands.

"This thing would barely keep the bottom of her juggs from slipping out! Lets give her some modesty, huh? We're only sixteen. We don't want to be giving any rapey fuckers out there any wet dreams." Violet said, bluntly.

"Rapists don't need a reason to do what they do. Did I dress like I gave Dmitri a reasson?" Ryan said, confronting Violets inadvertently insensitive comments.

"Fuck. Sorry. No. They're just warped to begin with. But I still don't think we should be parading around in anything we could fling off our fingers like an elastic band is all." Violet apologised.

"Its okay. Maybe that wass a little too much. How about thiss instead?" Ryan offered, spotting another halter in the pile at her feet. This one was more sturdy looking underneath the bosom but left a diamond shape across the chest, and again left the arms exposed. Though this wouldn't be a problem underneath Sophies jumper.

"It's sexy-modest!" Ryan said enouragingly.

"I guess..." Sophie said, trying to pacify Ryans continued enthusiam.

"Well come on, lets see it on you!" She carried on at Sophies hesitation to remove her jumper in front of them all. "Oh, don't worry. We're all girlss here." She said, clearly forgetting AJs presence. Though he was so enthralled with the toy cars rolling around under his guidance Clementine doubted he would notice Sophie getting undressed.

"We'll turn around, Soph." She said, reassuring her and then doing so once Ryan had handed her the top to try on. Being identical twins Clementine had essentially already seen most of what Sophie had under there thanks to Minnies advances. 

In the minute or so that passed she recalled Minnie falling between her legs a few days earlier, her firm stomach colliding with her own in the seat well, and felt an involuntary tensing in her thighs. It surprised her and she flung the thought from her mind as quick as it formed. 

She didn't even find herself drawn to Minnie, her personality was much too abbrasive and showy for Clementine to really connect with on the right level, she had even spurned her advances when given the opportunity to indulge, and yet meeting Violets eyes after being given the signal to turn around still made her feel so much guilt that she was sure somehow Violet would see it in there.

"It lookss so good on you! Makes your curves pop, Sophie!" It did admittedly look quite flattering to Clementine. The top clung to her tight middle and left a few inches of stomach visible before reaching her jeans, holes a plenty in them. Sophie blushed at the attention she was recieving and instinctively covered up the diamond shaped hole above her breasts with an arm.

"No! Sin! You look beautiful. Take your hand away. Be proud of them! I wish I had such breasts. So top heavy. I myselff, as you can see half not been bestowed with the most satisfactory of sizess." Ryan said, pushing up what little she had through her vest top. It was so surreal to Clementine to have such conversations in the deadly climate in which they lived.

For her it had always been three things on her mind. Food, water and shelter. Survival. She had barely even given much thought to her own body and how it looked. Much less whether her breasts were big enough. Though in that moment she did note they looked bigger than Ryans and smaller than Sophies, and by extension Minnies.

She had already thought about them too much. The only cleavage she wanted to get a better look at was Violets, lamenting that she had been in a daze for the short time they had been on show. She once again felt the feeling in her thighs kickstart at the thought of unclasping Violets bra and pulling it off her shoulders but she locked it away, promising herself that she would only allow that feeling in again when the time actually came.

Violet spoke up to save Ryan from being consumed in admiration of Sophies bust. "Okay. So we've established we all love tits. Great and small. Wonderful. Now, I'm going to go get the jacket I wanted earlier. Wait till you see it, Clem! It's pretty bad ass." She said, dashing off out of sight.

Clementine had wanted to follow and maybe pick out something a little less jaded herself but a dull thump on the doors behind her made her jump. She wheeled around expecting to see a walker gnawing uselessly at the glass. What she did see was at first more welcoming. It was Louis.

Though that feeling vanished in an instant when she saw the panic stricken look on his face. He thumped on the glass a few more times and tried to pull the door open frantically when his audience failed to act quickly enough for his liking. This movement gave enough of a look over his wide shoulders to send both Clementine and Sophie bolting to meet him on the other side of the glass.

He was being tracked down by a mass of lumbering walkers on his heels. All with their arms out ready to snatch him back into their cannibalistic grip if they wasted much more time. The three of them heaved the doors in the same direction parallel to one another in desperation, the rigidty of them giving an inch at a time and Louis trying to force himself through, making noises not dissimilar to the ones Rebecca had made giving birth...

The walkers were close enough now that their collective din drowned out Louis' own outwardly expressed desires to not end up a puddle of blood and bone on the floor only inches from safety.

Clementine screamed to him at the top of her lungs so he could hear.

"Louis, your coat! Take it off!" She contnued to rag at the doors in a final attempt as he obliged. Just as he had slipped his arms free of the coat he felt the convulse inducing touch of a dead, rotting hand on his shoulder, he threw himself to the ground as Clementine watched helplessly from the other side, seeing the first few walkers bear down over him.

In a stroke of luck his coat hadn't quite fallen from his shoulders when he dove to the floor, shielding the majority of his body from the first walker to get half a grip on him. Louis forced his head through the door in this instant and Clementine saw the look of a man who knew he was living his last seconds. A feral-like attempt at survival in his actions.

He threw his arm and shoulder through and Clementine grabbed it as tight as she could, refusing to give up. She almost jumped out of her skin at being bear hugged around the waist until she realised it was Sophie lending her weight.

There was no time for a count down as a walker was now chomping its brittle teeth on the coat that protected Louis' back, so the two threw themselves with as much velocity as they could muster opposite Louis' anchoring and edged his body over the threshold on its side.

He whipped his legs up like lightning out of harms way and rolled further into the room. His chest rising and falling rapidly at the ordeal he's just suffered. He was missing a shoe, and a look back through the door found it in one of the walkers grip as it lay, face gnashing at the gap in the door, possessed in its need to feed.

"Well.... fuck! That..... was..... close!" He gasped, eyes closed. The buzzing of the walkers continued to infiltrate the room as they bumped and smacked into the glass, barring their exit. AJ had been well and truly disturbed from his corner and watched with Ryan shadowing him for safety. Clementine was thankful he had had someone at his side but at the same time her help could have saved Louis' life a little sooner.

"Are you bit!?" Sophie asked, dropping down and inspecting his legs.

'I don't... think so." Louis puffed. She ran her hands over the holes in his pants anyway looking for punctures marks, but Clementine knew there would be a trail of blood on the floor behind him if his skin had been breached.

She had just been about to collect and usher everyone out of the opposing door and into the malls centre strip when Violet crashed back through them wearing her new jacket. But she didn't fall over in excitement.

She wore the same fear on her face that Louis had just been able to let go of as she struggled to her feet. She tried to speak but her haste to warn them was drowned out by the death rattle behind them. It was only seeing them rounding the corner Violet had entered from that they realised they were well and truly fucked.

Violet had missed an entrance. And much like life, death had found a way. Inside, and to both sides of the door. They were trapped.


	16. The Escape Plan.

*

The earth seemed to accelerate rapidly beneath Clementines boots, rooted to the Goodwill floor on which she stood as her chances of survival reduced greatly with each passing second she took to create an escape route.

And this was damn near impossible when doing so meant leaving her loved ones to fight off the oncoming walkers blocking both exits. She found training her mind to stay on task incredibly difficult as her head would involuntarily snap back to check on their safety.

They were all outnumbered at least four to one. And that was just the walkers that had dragged their way from inside the centre strip after Violets scent. 

She had her Hatchet armed and ready for battle, her new black skin tight jacket zipped up completely and snap fastened at the collar resting underneath her chin. Her jaw was clenched as she swung her first blow, slicing right through the head of a walker at the mouth.

In the same instant she turned her attention to AJ, who had been crouched down over the broken china, to pick up a lethal piece to defend himself with. He swung the makeshift dagger upwards in his closed palm blindly at Clementines warning of a walkers attempt to snatch him.

It slit cleanly across its stomach, the perished guts spilling onto its feet, causing it to slip over almost comically. This gave Violet opportunity to fatally maim the walker, driving her hatchet into the brain, its aimless flailing ceased immediately.

The fleeting space it gave them both allowed Clementine to tear her eyes away back onto the job at hand. 

Scanning the ceiling told her it was too high to get to without anything on the ground to provide the reach they would need. And the numbers of walkers flooding through the entrance made the potential of bum-rushing them a grave prospect.

Another unsurmountable bout of fear breached Clementines conviction to get them free of their hellish predicament, and she focused again on the carnage that had been happening at her back.

The group were losing ground, being edged backwards towards the other set of baying walkers against the class. The one that had almost bit Louis still lay half through the parted door, grasping at the legs that would soon be within reach if they allowed themselves to be marched backwards much more.

In an attempt to thwart this Sophie and Louis had taken to using the few remaining standing clothes racks to ram into the first wall of walkers in their pathway, bowling them over and trapping them beneath the frames.

This gave Clementine an idea. It was completely half baked but with no time to waste she scoured what she had to hand in front of her before spotting the only thing likely to do what she desired.

She jumped over the cash desk and wrapped her arms around the register, starting to heave it off its perch. It was heavy duty and she knew the weight would mean she'd have to use all the strength she had to send it where she wanted.

She closed her eyes tight and pulled some more, her grip around the robust machine digging into her ribs the closer it got to slipping off the edge. And then it did. It all happened in a single moment, it had to. If she had given the register any gravity it would have pulled her to the floor with it. 

Instead Clementine drew the power she needed from deep in her gut, the sheer tensing in each of those muscles forced an audible roar from her throat as she swung the register in one complete motion at the drywall inside the Goodwill, crashing into it with force.

It didn't completely break through and into the store on the other side before it smashed onto the floor but it did make a big enough hole for Clementine to work with. 

She could now hear the sound of bullets leaving their chambers, knowing it was AJ behind the trigger, things must be getting extremely precarious for them behind her back. 

One round. Two rounds. Three.

Clementine first tried pulling at the ruptured edges of the hole but the material was not coming away quick enough so she readied her boot and sent it straight through, the perferation expanding with the collision. Clementine repeated this act hastily until it was big enough to climb through.

With sweat starting to form on her hairline she span around and hopped back over the desk to aid her fellow survivors in fighting off the threat to their lives.

In doing so she saw something that stopped her in her tracks, suffering an almost crippling reaction at the horror before her as through the crowd of rotting walkers she saw AJs little frame, gun cocked and pressed up underneath his chin. Saving the last bullet for himself.

Clementine screamed out his name as tears burst forth from behind her eyes at being seconds from losing her boy. He opened his, glassy and lip trembling at the finality the pulling of the trigger once more would bring to his short life. He disappeared from view as one of the dead moved across her eyeline and into a takedown from Sophie, who was much more able without Tenn clinging to her for safety.

Clementine exploded forward then in pursuit to retrieve AJ before he had no choice but to follow what she had taught him on the bridge that day.

Her detonation into the walkers created a blast zone around her as she sent each one tumbling over, finding herself clambering over the top of the odd one or two until she was able to reach out and knock the gun from where it had been trained, spiralling off along the floor.

Clementine scooped AJ up (which at his age was no mean feat) and raced back to where she had came, her vision blurred from the stifled crying. No words were exchanged as she dropped him over the desk and pointed to the hole she had made for their escape.

AJ hesitated a little when he realised Clementine wouldn't be joining him immediately but she forced him onward sternly.

"Go! Now!" She shouted over the noise, refusing to look away until he followed her new order. He reluctantly left her behind and she had to physically stop herself from reattaching herself to his side.

Bodies were strewn between the clothes now, some moving, some not. Thankfully non of them had been recently living in the pre-apocalypse sense of the word.

Clementine jumped a top the desk and tried waving to get their attention, but they were so deep in combat that distracting them in this way would be too risky. Sophie was the closest to her wrestling off a walker who looked to be winning so Clementine removed her shiv and launched herself through the air to where they stood.

She came down holding the blade in both hands and drove it through the top of its head, landing awkwardly on her ankle in the process she fell with it and needed Sophies help to push the walkers weight off of her.

"Behind the desk! I made a hole in the wall for us!" She shouted to Sophie, who nodded, helping her to her feet.

Though Clementine refused to put her heel down completely as she felt a sharp twinge up her knee when she did so. She tried to hide it but hobbled gingerly on the spot causing Sophie to pull her toward the makeshift exit.

She spoke when Clementine resisted being ushered. "Clementine, your leg! Come on!"

"I can't! We need to help the others!" She pleaded back, looking to them, so wrapped up in their own fights they likely didn't even realise they had an out now.

Ryan had managed to pry apart one of the racking frames at this point and could be seen using one of the poles as a baseball bat to defend herself. And doing a good job in the process, much more capability and resourceful than she'd shown at the mercy of the walkers by the tower.

"No! You've hurt your foot! And-" her voice became shrill as she continued. "I AM NOT going to let you do this! Not when I can!" Her sudden attitude morphed her completely into her sister and Clementine didn't dare waste the time arguing when it could mean losing Violet.

Clementine moved slowly on her leg toward the hole in the wall that had AJs fearful face poking through it. He held a hand out as she fell over the cashier desk, helping her through into the next room.

"Clem! Whats wrong!?" He asked panicked as she dragged herself on her on her backside further into the open space.

She opened her arms wide and he threw himself into her, his weight pushing her down onto her back as they hugged each other in appreciation of each others safety.

"Don't worry-" she said, against his ear. "I just fell funny on my leg. I'm so sorry! You must have been so scared thinking you had to do that!" Clementine said, referring to his near-suicide.

"I was. But it would have been quicker, right? I never want to be a monster - like them." He said. Clementine saved him from the information that there would have been nothing left of him to turn if the walkers had gotten to him.

She looked around the room. It looked in undisturbed condition, and seeing the signs dotted around inside told her why, it was a hearing clinic and held no loot worth taking.

"Listen, AJ. We need to concentrate on finding a way out of here now. Can you check if those shutters will go up for me?" She asked, giving his worrying mind something to concentrate on. He let go of her and she sat up, pulling her jeans up as high as they would go.

Her knee had no visible damage but was already tender to the touch as she examined it delicately.

Ryan was the first through into Better Hearing, sweat marks showing through her new white t shirt. She panted as she regained her feet, completely blanking Clementine she made a bee line for the set of shutters AJ was busy inspecting.

Louis followed, jacketless. Only a flimsy top covering the coffee complexion of his body as he came to a stop at Clems side. She could feel a thumping begin to generate behind her rib as she watched the space, waiting breathlessly.

It reached fever pitch a minute or so later when the face she wanted to see didn't show. Sophie had appeared climbing through the opening first and Clementine felt the ability to breathe forget her, leaving her in limbo.

Until she realised Sophie was chained to another, hand knitted to Violets they both entered as one. Sweaty, and blood stained. 

Sophie had so much blood spatter on her face and chest it was hard to tell what was freckles and what wasn't and Violets dirty blonde hair had turned crimson in patches. But that didn't stop Clementine from forcing herself onto her good foot and embracing her like she had never done before.

Violet didn't struggle. She allowed herself to be consumed in Clementines crushing hold, returning the love. She was meek and remorseful when she spoke.

"I thought I'd checked them all. We- could have all died." Clementine instinctively stroked the back of her head, stickying it with matted blood.

"Uh, guys. Not to be an ass, but we still can die. Those things are on our tail and it'll only be a few minutes before they find their way around that desk." Louis pointed out exhasperated.

Ryan agreed vehemently from across the room. "Which meanss! We either get this fucking shutter up RIGHT NOW, or we block that hole until we do!"

Violet, Sophie and Louis promptly obliged, shouldering a cabinet along the carpet flooring before it snagged and toppled over, creating only a partial blockade.

They all dashed over to aid Ryan in breaking free the shutter to the inside mall as a plethora of walkers had slid their decrepit figures over to regain eye contact on their wouldbe victims from the outside.

Violet took out her dripping hatchet and warned everyone to move out of the way before swinging down with force, butchering the lock and allowing them to throw it upwards. 

They tore through the mall, their footsteps echoing loudly as they evaded sporadic walkers attracted by the commotion the rest of the horde had caused.

Violet held back to help Clementine move more swiftly on her leg, with Louis in front taking out any walkers quick enough to alter their direction as they passed.

Not knowing the layout those in front ran aimlessly around until Violet gave them enough direction that they rounded a corner and found the dark but open space of the outside a few hundred feet before them. Both sets of doors were closed but their collective strength pulled them open with speed.

Freedom had them all experiencing wildly differing instincts. Ryan wanted to bolt there and then but Clementine wouldn't get very far with the condition of her leg. They just needed to get out of view.

"We need to hide! They're still all around here. If there's that many inside, they could be everywhere!" Clementine pleaded. "I don't know how far my knee can take me."

Violet span frantically looking for a safe spot. "Fuck. Fuck!" She cursed for a lack of ideas.

"We need to move now! They see us!" Sophie said, catching the walkers from inside round the corner. They all dashed around to the other side, thankfully opposite to the one flanked by the baying dead and crouched together behind a large industrial dumpster.

"What about the roof?" AJ asked, more calmly than he should have in that moment. 

"And how do we get up there!?" Ryan replied, irritated at his seemingly unhelpful suggestion.

"How about this thing?" He said, rapping on the metal dumpster they used for cover.

"It could work..." Sophie surmised.

"Or we could get stuck again!" Louis countered. Clementine wasn't hanging around. She left them to their argument and attempted to hoist herself up onto it, at first failing when she tried using her bad leg.

When she was up there she could just about reach her hands out enough to grasp the flat portion of the rooftop and knew then that's where they would wait out the horde below.

Following her lead Violet too jumped up onto the dumpster, both of them leaning back down to drag AJ up by his arms and then leg him up to the top. 

The rest made their way up having relinquished debating yet another decision and at Clementines call they all threw themselves flat to the gravelled rooftop, heads resting on the small stones and listening to the groaning all around them.

"Well I just hope this doesn't give way..." Louis whispered casually, salty at the decision to board it. Clementines patience had well and truly given way with the splintering pain in her knee not helping matters.

"Please, Louis. Shut the fuck up!" She asked, impolitely. But with a minute to breathe and process her shock, Sophie spoke up.

"W-where's my brother? And sister??" She mumbled, regressing back into her shell, fearful of the answer.

It was hard to see through the darkness covering them now, but Louis' features turned stoney at having to confront what had happened.

"Yeah, about that... Lilly was SO wrong. We, uh, we were overrun... the others, I don't know. Fuck. We got separated on different floors. I-- I was in the basement and... well..." He stuttered before the last disclosure, rubbing the back of his head in apparent embarassment.

"Did you know hospitals have their own morgues....??"


	17. The Waiting Game.

*

Louis elaborated on how everything went down as the group listened, waiting out the dead on the rooftop of the Uniontown mall, the blackened sky of nightfall prevailing.

He told candidly how he had headed down to the basement alone while the rest searched on the ground floor, coming to open up a door with a thick piece of two by four wedged through both handles.

It had turned out to be the hospitals morgue, and inside it had been crammed with more dead bodies than the place was ever equipped to hold. A likely result of the early days of the outbreak.

He had ran away in blind panic and the dead followed behind. By the time Louis managed to shout up to warn the others the small horde had reached the ground floor, forcing Louis one way and the other four up to the second floor.

"Why the hell did you open the door? The two by four through the handles should have been clue enough that whatever was inside wasn't good news!" Violet asked, angrily.

Louis protested, giving his logic but the group didn't seem to be buying it once he'd finished explaining.

"I thought I heard somebody in there! It sounded like a young girl crying. I didn't know what to think. Maybe she was held captive or something."

"And did you find this girl?"

"No... I mean I didn't have much chance after I got the door open what with the fucking walkers but... it was weird. I still heard her crying, in that room, when I was running away."

"That makes no fucking sense. If that lot down there were in that room with her she'd be nothing but grisle. They'd have- have eaten her vocal chords the second she made any noise." Violet argued.

"Guys, keep the noise down." Clementine said, in a whisper that she wanted the group to follow.

"I know that, Vi! Maybe I'm losing my mind but I swear thats what I heard in there." Louis shot back, adamant in his certainty.

"Arguing over this is a waste of time. The walkers got out. We need to talk about how we're going to get Minnie, and Tenn, and the other two out of there!" Sophie purported, desperately.

"I'm not sure there is much we can do, Soph. We're as trapped as they are until the morning at least." Violet said, sadly.

"Well- I'm not going to do that. I-I can't just wait and hope I see them come out of there alive! Minnie saved me by the banks! I can't just lie here when she needs me. When Tenn needs me! The longer they're in there the less odds there is that- that they're not dead." She stood up from her lying position and stared off to the hospital.

"We have to get in there. Is anybody going to help me? Because I will go on my own." She asked, back to them.

"Sophie, I've seen how many are in there. You'll die." Louis put bluntly. This didn't seem to deter her.

"Then I'll die for my family. That's what you do! That's what Aasim did." She turned around then, arms folded and in a position before the group that she clearly found uncomfortable, having been used to being in her sisters shadow.

She looked at Clementine. "You nearly died saving that- that fucking Lilly. Non of us were on board with that decision. But you did it anyway. Because YOU thought she was worth it. Now I trust that if she was, my family are too."

Clementine knew she was right. If she stuck her neck out for Lilly, a woman she knew to be morally grey at best, and yet someone she considered somewhere approaching a harsh aunt by this point, then she couldn't balk at doing the same when it came to keeping the true blood Sophie, Minnie and Tenn shared together. 

She tried to stand to show her solidarity but Violet halted her. "Clem, no. You're not going anywhere with your leg in that state. Look, Sophie. I'll go. But not on a suicide mission. We need a plan."

"We go down the way we got up. And then we get in there and find them!" Sophie said frustrated at the wasting time.

"You can't go in through the front! You'll never get past the first wave." Louis pointed out. "I'm telling you this is a bad, bad idea. Minnie and Lilly are more than capable of getting themselves a way out of there."

Violet addressed Louis, ignoring his plea to stay put. "If we can't go in through the front then how? Think Louis. Help us help ourselves. Sophie will never forgive herself if she doesn't at least try."

Louis looked between Sophie and Violet, trying to bite his lip from sending them to what he thought would be certain death.

"I don't want us to lose more than we might already have..."

"Which is why you need to help me, Louis. I need to bring Minnie and Tenn back." Sophie got on her knees now in front of him. "Please." He relented against his better judgement.

"Fire escapes. Round the back. Climb them and they'll get you to the second floor. We better come back."

"We?" Violet asked for confirmation.

"We. I'm not having this on my concience if it goes south. I figure if it does then I won't have much of a concience left to regret it for long."

Sophie leaned forward and pressed her forehead to his in appreciation.

"Thank you, Louis."

"You do that when we're out of this fucking town. You coming?" He replied, asking after Ryans compliance. She shook her head feverishly.

"Fuck no. I mean, I'm not very good in a fight." She said, excusing herself.

"You looked handy enough back there." Violet said, accusingly. Ryan grazed her mind for another excuse.

"I'm sorry but I should stay here, with Clementine. And AJ. Someone needs to look after them, you know?"

"Fine. Whatever. But you're going to have to pull your weight on behalf of others in the future if you want us to keep doing the same for you. We had your back at the tower." Violet said, trying but failing to be delicate with her warning.

Ryan simply stared at Violet. Clementine had the feeling she knew what she wanted to say, something about 'not being in this position if it wasn't for you stealing my food' but she refrained.

The three departees did so. Leaving their rucksacks behind for more agility on their rescue mission. Clementine took Violets goodbye kiss feeling useless at not being able to join her and felt the swelling sense of worry in her stomach as she disappeared from view.

Clementine knew that Sophie had been experiencing that same swirling emptyness in her stomach for the past hour, and that it would only get worse the closer she got to finding her siblings dead or alive.

She, Aj and Ryan had settled at the corner of the rooftop, leaning their backs to the edge and hoping quietly for the safe return of their comrades.

Clementine did this by looking skyward for comfort once more. The sky was clear and the stars shone in their millions in her eyes. But she just concentrated on the few she usually did in times of trouble, it took her a minute but she found the bird and used her eyes to trace it out again.

"What are you doing?" She heard AJ ask with interest.

"Looking at the stars, Kiddo."

"Yeah. I know. But why are you moving your eyes funny?" He replied, kneeling up and in front of her face. "Is something moving up there?" She giggled at his wonder.

"Well, there's always something moving up there. Satellites. Planets. Shooting Stars." She knew even these words would stump his uneducated mind.

"Uhh, whats a Saa-sa-telite?" She smiled, not knowing anything of these things would probably never be of any consequence to him but she wanted to teach him anyway. 

She hoped that knowing there was a place left where monsters didn't exist would help him to keep hope when things got worse. After all she wouldn't always be there to hold him through all the hell on Earth.

"It's something that humans used to send up into the sky. But really, really high. Where the stars are."

"What did they do?"

"Different things. Some told us whether it was going to rain before it would. Some let us watch television. Some even let us search the answer to any question we ever had." Clementine informed, still looking up at the white burning specks.

"Can we use it now? To ask how to beat all the monsters?" He asked, excitedly.

"I wish, kiddo. But they stopped working years ago now. If we do beat them all, it'll have to be using our own heads." Clementine lamented, that possibility was slim to none.

"Oh. So what are you looking at?" He asked again.

"Come here." She said, lifting his growing body up under the arms and spreading her legs a little while she sat him between them.

"You see the stars right?"

"Yeah. I'm not blind, Clem."

"That's good to know. Well, some of them make shapes. Called constellations. It can be hard to see them, but when you do, its nice to look at." Clementine felt AJs springy hair tickle her neck as he searched around in the night sky for one, predictably coming up empty.

"I don't see any." Clementine drew one of her arms from around his stomach and held his arm out in hers. Slouching into the wall a little more so he could better follow the movements she made with his index finger.

"Follow your finger, okay?" He felt him nod and began to move his arm around in the shape of a real constellation first. "Do you know what it is?" She asked.

"No, its just lines." He said back, idignantly at not being able to see what she did.

"It's called The Great Bear."

"It looks nothing like a bear."

"I can't argue with you there, Kiddo. It does take a lot of imagination to fill in the gaps." Clementine tried to soothe the dissapointment she could feel in him.

"Okay, nevermind that one. Sometimes, its more fun to make up your own. Me and Violet made one together. Lets see if you get this one." She directed him by the wrist again, this time drawing out the star bird, feeling her own apprehension melt slightly as the memory tied to it appeared from where it had been filed  under "First Kiss."

The moment was so ethereal in its ability to almost drug Clementine into calming that it was easy to forget tasting Violets lips had come at a time they were waiting for Lillys attack. That the same night had saw them lose Mitch. And had Louis and Aasim ripped from them in kidnap.

But those ten minutes before always prevailed. Clementine still wasn't aware if Violet had intentions of making the two of them something more that night, but she had to think that taking her up there alone and the ensuing 'game' had some hope behind it.

She smiled to herself, only now realising how smooth Violet had really been in playing the constellation game. Using it to reveal how she herself felt without being completely direct. And more importantly gaging whether Clementine would reciprocate. 

She was just glad she did. The connection was giving off sparks and though Violet struggled through her to adequately admit this it gave Clementine the confidence to go one step further, and show her.

Violet said she wished she could feel weightless. She did that to Clementine every time they locked eyes.

"You see it? It's a bird." Aj was quiet for a moment as he tried to picture it.

"Oh, yeah! I see that one! I see it!" He said happily.

"Awesome! Fun right?" She replied, hugging him tightly. "Maybe now you can make some for us both to trace out? And then I can guess what they are."

"Okay, Clem."

They sat for at least an hour more. At least it felt that way. And Clementine found herself becoming agitated at the continued absence of the ones who had departed earlier.

She could see the hospital. It wasn't a far walk and she had watched their admittedly shrunken silhouettes scale the fire escape and disappear through into the second floor. Clementine wondered what could have happened. 

And it seemed Ryan had the same line of thought. Though not with the same concern that Clementine had. She stared at the fire escape.

"How long are we suppose to wait?" She said, restless.

"As long as it takes." Clementine replied matter of factly. Ryan looked over her face before she replied.

"They could be dead, right now. Are we supposed to sit up here until they get back up and walk out of there?"

"They won't die in there." Clementine said defiantly. Though she knew deep down this could be yet another instance of her group falling before she. 

"You can't say that with certainty. I know you can't half got this far without losing people. Your family. AJ's mother. Whoever."

"I know what you're trying to get at." Clementine said, anger bubbling under.

"You have to think off AJ. We're sitting ducks here, anybody that comes through would half no problem taking uss out!" Ryan said, becoming animated. Though Clementine noted the gesture with her arms the word 'us' had been made inward to her own chest.

"Look, I know you got spooked down there, it was rough. And you can leave if you want to. But we all made it out of there earlier because we stuck together. I need those guys. Some of them as much as I need AJ."

"Yeah! I don't want to leave Tenn." AJ added, his lips pursing much the same as when Clementine would forbid something he wanted to do.

"You're stubborn." Ryan said, her brown eyes looking into the amber of Clementines.

"Yeah. I am. I've met a lot of bad people over the years so when I find good ones, I hold on." She replied, shivering at the menace the likes of Carver and Joan had brought upon her.

"Bad people will alwayss find you, Clementine."

"And I'll always be the one left standing." She meant it figuratively but her past had always proved literal. "Now, you can go, I'm not going to hold it against you. I can draw up a copy of the map and maybe I'll see you again." Clementine said, trying to make the imminent departure as amicable as possible.

But Ryan didn't move. Her eyes flitted to AJ and back. She appeared the wrestle with her decision.

"No. I will stay. I have thingss to finish.... getting to The Greenbrier. It was a journey I was supposed to take with Dmitri. But I can't now. Something put me here now, I can not dismiss that." Ryan said, nodding slowly as if she was yet to convince herself.

Clementine said nothing. She didn't want anyone around who was going to bolt when things looked dire. Those kind of people invariably made problems for the rest. Ben, bless him could have been the death of Clementine on more than one occasion due to his constant flight response.

Even Jane, though she was much more capable than Ben, had issues that kept her from fully committing to the cabin group. Luckily when she did come through it ended up saving their skin against Arvo's ambush.

Ryan had stayed and fought in the Goodwill but Clementine wondered whether she would have done if there was anywhere to run. This troubled Clementine. If Ryan wavered now on the rooftop, hinting that the three of them disappear together, how could she ever really be trusted going forward.

After all, that could be Clementine and AJ in the hospital right now.

"Clem." AJ said, getting her attention. He was up on his knees looking over the small wall they'd been leaning against.

"What is it, Kiddo?" She asked, absentmindedly.

"I know this is silly, but those walkers are holding hands. I didn't know they could do that." Clementine whipped around though her knee burned as she propped herself up on them and peered along the ground, squinting through the darkness.

She saw them all, moving slowly but surely, linked together and affecting pretty convincing walker-like gaits as they did so.

"They can't AJ. Its the rest of us. They made it out!" Clementine watched them disappear under the edge of the mall as they followed who she assumed was Louis' lead. They appeared minutes later one by one, looking dead, but very much alive.

James' masks had been their out. They all removed them once they were safe, and Clementine forced herself to stand in greeting, making a bee line for Violet. They embraced without words.

Clementine noticed Tenn shaking violently at the ordeal. Thankful that he was visibly distraught at that and not the loss of a loved one, both of which were crowding him in an effort to comfort the boy.

"It's okay, Tenn, we're safe now. Shh." Minnie said, on her knees in front of him. "Look at me, I promise. Nothing can hurt you now. Just breathe." She coaxed him into slowing his down, her unbridled affection toward her little brother was admirable.

She let go of Violet and moved in to hug James as he removed his own mask.

"Thank you, James. You made sure everybody got back." She said appreciatively. Though he didn't return her smile, the proudness she expected on his face was absent. 

Lilly ripping the mask from her own head and throwing it to the floor in disgust gave her a good idea why before she even opened her trap.

"Yeah, and we had to wear these fucking things to do so!" She rubbed her face as though trying to remove whatever she thought the mask had left behind on her.

Here we go, Clementine thought.

"And thank god we did! Best case we'd still be stuck in that cleaning closet right now if not for them." Minnie said, taking a one-eighty on the stance she'd had back at the Roadhouse.

"And it'll be the last time." Lilly said, standing on the mask James had made and kicking it away. "The day we start living in those things to get by is the day we're done as a species. It's fucking low." She spat.

"Can't you just be fucking grateful for once, Lilly? I get it, its not ideal but we're all alive because of them. Because James had the fore thought to make them for times like this." Clementine asserted but Lilly didn't back down.

"Don't kid yourself, Clementine. He didn't make them for our survival. He wants us to wear them for their survival. He thinks we can live in harmony? That's not even a pipe dream. It's a pipe bomb." Lilly said staunchly, turning her attention to James then, the ever existing wallflower.

"You're going to have to pick a side, kid. I mean it. Every time we get in a fight, you're off to the side watching through your fucking eyes. They're dead! They only exist to make us extinct. If the best answer we have to that is wearing their skin on a daily basis then we might as well be dead anyway"

Lilly waited his response and held her hand up swiftly to silence anyone that tried to intervene on his behalf. His reply was quiet and he kept his eyes anywhere but on her.

"I- helped. If we fought. Like you wanted. We wouldn't have made it. Too many of them to handle." He said.

"I'd have found a way given time. I don't know how you do it. Wear that thing all the time. Whoever you were with before really brainwashed that head of yours. It's some twisted shit, kid." Lilly replied, shaking her head and confrontational.

"That's enough, Lilly. You've said your piece. Let James survive the way he knows how. I for sure wouldn't mind finding another way from time to time. I'm tired of everything devolving into bloodshed." Violet said forcefully.

"I'm not wearing that thing again, and that's the end of it. You better think twice before you do too. Some people out here wouldn't think twice about blowing your head clean off your shoulders looking just the way you are. Don't give them more reason." She looked around then, glaring.

Nobody had the energy to rebutt her antagonism. Which unfortunately meant to Lilly she had won. She stormed off, and left what should have been celebrated as a victory, now sufficiently hollow.

They stayed put for the night, even though Tenn had had the bright idea of throwing the small stones off the roof to distract a few walkers from their standing it would take forever to make enough of a path. And then to take off on no sleep would make life very difficuly going forward.

Despite its best efforts, today hadn't actually set them back any, they were still on course to reach The Greenbrier some time in the next six days.

They had all bedded down except James, who was obviously still troubled by Lillys earlier tirade. Clementine put AJ down and found herself checking on his well being.

"Don't listen to Lilly. She's wrong. You did a great thing tonight. I'm not sure everybody would have made it out without your masks. Despite what she says." Clementine said, sitting next to him. 

He was leaning over the side slightly on his elbows, looking down at a small cluster of walkers that had been dragged away by the noises the stones had made. It was a while before he responded.

"She wasn't all wrong."

"How so?"

"I do want them to survive. Everything has a right to the world. And taking even one out. It takes a toll on me. They were people once. I'm afraid one day. I'll be the cause of death. For one of you."

Clementine laughed nervously at his suggestion. "Well, you wouldn't let one of us die, would you. You'll always try to find a way to save us"

He turned his head and studied Clementine. "Yes. I'll try. But sometimes trying. Is not succeeding. You have a lot on the line. People to lose."

"And tonight, you saved those same people, James." Clementine tried to convince him of his success but once again he backed away from it.

"Maybe I'm not ready. Yet. To be here." He looked again at the walkers, almost longingly. It was rather unsettling to Clementine.

"Didn't you get lonely? I mean, we're not the greatest company but at least we do give it. I think I'd go stir crazy living among that lot." Clementine asked, trying to pull James back from the ether.

"Sometimes being alone got a lot to handle. But at the same time. No. With the dead, I could better protect both them and the living.... now. I see both sides dying." He said solemnly.

"I really think you should stay, James. We're happy having you. But- I'm not going to have that at the expense of your own. Just sleep on it?" She asked, hoping that the morning would bring a taming of his personal conflict.

He pulled himself back from the edge and gave Clementine the best half smile he could muster before settling down at the outer circle of the group.

Clementine too lay down in her usual position, removing her hat. Unusually fidgety as she did so.

Uniontown had been a near complete bust aside from the new clothes. And even they had ended up caked in blood minutes after discovery. 

She couldn't wait to leave it behind.


	18. No Rest For The Wicked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last Part of this act. Going to take some time to properly plot the remainder out. New chapter should only be delayed by a day or two later than usual. Hope you continue to enjoy.

*

Her dreams had remained just that during the night. The nightmares that usually plagued her keeping to the shadowy corners of her mind.

But still Clementine stirred. She wasn't sure if it was the hum and drum of the few remaining walkers, or something as simple as the slight breeze tickling her cheek. They had retired in the open after all, at the mercy of the elements above.

Touching her face she realised it was a little wet and tried to place the substance while properly coming to. Another drop across the bottom of her lip told her that the clouds were opening up.

She sat up, looking around for her hat to shield herself a little from it. Clementine located it, facing directly at her she did a double take. The 'D' that had come away falling off the tower had been stitched back on.

She had intended to ask James to fix it but never got around to it. She smiled as she picked it up, caressing the new stitches that held it back into place.

Violet must have taken the liberty after Clementine had drifted away. She leaned over and kissed her unconcious forehead lightly so as not to wake her. Though if the rain fell much more it would wake her anyway. She was a light sleeper.

Tenn snored loudly as usual and Clementine had made a move to go quieten him with a nudge when she realised Ryan had beaten her to it.

She'd been hunched over him as he lay on his side, mid reach when Clementine spoke.

"Keeping you awake, huh?" She asked, rubbing her eyes in an attempt to focus. Ryan jolted round at Clementine making her presence known and threw a hand over her chest and dramatic suprise.

"Clementine! You scare me! I- I didn't know you were awake." She said, the white of her eyes looking like a deer caught in headlights.

"I wasn't" She yawned, pulling her jacket around her. "I think the rain woke me."

"Ah, yes. Well this little guy, bless him. He could stop a narcoleptic from sleep." Ryan replied, relaxing a little. Clementine laughed.

"You're not the first one to say something like that." She looked around for James then to thank him for healing her hat, doubting he was awake at the same time.

But her stomach dropped when she failed to find him, neither sleeping nor awake. She ran her eyes over each remaining one again to make sure she hadn't missed him.

Ryan seemed to understand. "The kids gone. Jamess is it?"

"What do you mean by gone?" Clementine asked, asking a question she full well knew the answer to.

"Juss that. He thought I wass sleeping and I let him continue to believe that. He put hiss mask on, hung around a little like he wass in two minds. And then he disappeared."

Clementine got to her feet and moved to the edge of the roof as quickly as she could on her compromised leg. She couldn't see him. Not that she had much chance. James knew how to blend in.

"I guess Lilly got to him. Is probably for the best." Ryan continued. Clementine declined to respond to the last part.

"When did he go?"

"I loss the ability to keep time a long time ago, Clementine. I don't know, maybe fifteen minutes ago at most. It doessn't really matter though doess it? Like you said to me. We have to be willing to put our necks on the line for each other" Ryan said, using Clementines words against her.

Clementine had said she wouldn't want him feeling like he was being forced to stay, and she meant it. But she also thought that her request that he sleep on it would be honoured. She wanted the chance to say goodbye in a world where opportunities to do so without the person dying in your arms were few.

He always did shirk the spotlight, and Clem had to understand that. He didn't want a big scene to bow out on. 

She took her hat back off her head, the patter of the rain landing in her dark hair. She traced her finger around the stitch again, this time with a sadness sticking in her throat. 

Fixing the hat had been his way of saying his goodbye to her....

Clementine tried to take some solace in that, but she found it cut short as a strange beam of red light appeared to dance across it. She struggled to keep up with it for the few seconds it took to fly up her arm and come to rest in the dip between her collarbones.

That's when her eyes widened and she threw herself backwards without a second thought. The sound of a round ringing out thunderously as her back smacked the sharp stones on the surface...


	19. Laurel Cavern.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I'm going to preface the rest of my story with a warning. Things from here on out have the potential to be very dark. The ideas I've had could be upsetting to some readers and I just wanted to warn you guys of that going forward.
> 
> Characters will do abhorrent things and have be on the recieving end of them too. I've played it relatively safe so far. But this is The Walking Dead, and there is hell in it beyond just walkers.
> 
> Having said that, here's the latest chapter (which incidentally isnt dark, other than in the literal sense.)

*

"Don't you worry now, we're accomodatin' people. We'll give you a head start and count to ten."

Those were the words that kept Clementine running through the searing pain radiating up from her knee as she looked to put as much distance between her and the hunting party as possible.

And it was the ignorance of that pain that had likely enabled the rest of the group to keep on their toes for so long too. 

If the threat was so real that she was willing to feel the crunch of bone with every step in order to ensure their safety, then they would burst a lung for the same cause.

Though the truth was Clementine herself wasn't even sure how grave the danger had been. She'd had no time to learn how big their number was, though their collective laughter at the sharp shooters near miss on Clementines throat had given her an idea. More than they could handle.

All she knew for sure was what she could hear as she scrambled to rip every last one of her group up from their slumber. 

Curiously one of these sounds had been the heavy rattle of chains as she'd leapt down from the rooftop, accompanied by a horrid image in her head of the monster who owned them wrapping them around her windpipe.

Lilly had been able to hold whoever they had been at bay with a few rounds as the rest covered ground before she joined back with them at a treeline they'd used for cover. She probably had a better visual on their assailants but nobody dared stop to ask.

That was, not until day break when Tenn had physically collapsed, his minature lungs unable to take on the air he needed to keep going any longer. It had been nothing short of a miracle that he'd made it that far at all.

Minnie and Sophie had taken to carrying their brother at this juncture but with the added weight of their rucksacks they were unable to keep travelling much further than another mile or so.

Eventually they ground to a halt in the dense forest terrain they'd taken to after leaving the open roads, deciding the cover of trees would better help them evade capture. Lilly had made it five to six hours of near constant running.

"I know they're still following but we can't keep this up. We're going to have to rest." Clementine said, wincing at the slightest movement she made now her brain had time to process the pain she had been putting her knee through.

"They're going to lynch us if we give up the ground we've made!" Lilly said impatiently, though she too was visibly running on empty.

"We may be able to squeeze in a few more miles before nightfall but Tenn can't! Look at him! He needs the rest." Violet pleaded, watching both sisters tending to his weak state.

"There's got to be somewhere we can hole up, Lilly. They might even pass over us. Then we can change course?" Clementine suggested.

This notion seemed to sway Lilly into submitting to the groups demands. Her eyes flickered rapdily over everyones shoulders in search of any alien movement.

"Okay. Fine, Fuck. Give me a second. Keep watch." She pulled the map out from its place tucked half down her camo pants and quickly spread it out up against a rather rotund tree, running her finger wide of its markings.

"By the looks of this, we should be close by Laurel Cavern. We could squeeze in there for a while, but it's not going to be a fun time for anyone." She said, tapping her finger on the spot.

"More fun than having your head become someones sock puppet." Louis muttered.

"Point taken." Lilly replied, getting to her feet. "We're going to have to find the opening. This thing doesn't tell me where exactly it is." She slid the map back down her pants and waved the rest to follow her lead.

"So, what are we actually looking for?" AJ asked Clementine as they shadowed Lilly. She answered on her behalf before she could come up with anything.

"You're looking for a literal hole in the ground, kid. Like the things yawning." She said, moving in a crouching position and batting apart the vegetation in search of the opening.

"Oh." He answered. "How are we going to all fit in a hole?" Clementine smirked before she fixed his misconception.

"It's a bit bigger than a hole, AJ. It's a hole that you can walk into. It can go for miles  both through and down. You know what a cave is right?" She asked for confirmation, unsure of whether one had ever cropped up in one of his books.

"I think so...." He said, pondering as they continued to move haphazardly together behind Lilly, for which she promptly scolded them all for, sending them off in different directions to make their search less time consuming.

This left Clementine in relative segregation with Lilly though AJ remained at her side. She was surprised to find Lilly making the first move to converse, her stealth like quietness giving away only to the odd branch snapping under foot.

"That other kid, he sure picked a good time to bail." She said, calling back on the fleeting few moments Clementine had taken to inform everyone of James' departure when they had noticed his absence, originally fearing he had been either captured or killed.

"I think you pushed that one over the edge." Clementine said, not letting Lilly off easily.

"Well, I don't regret it. And not just because I was right in what I said about him needing to pick a side. Turns out that talk saved him the trouble of all this shit now." She replied, hopping down a small but sloping drop.

"You realise how meglomaniacal that sounds, right?" Clementine said, sourly.

Lilly ran her calloused hands over the jagged rocks protuding from the terrain and whistled for the others' attention.

"The opening is along here. Keep against this as we move and we should come across the mouth." She said confidently before reconvening with Clementine and the conversation.

"Big word for you, Clementine. Lee teach you that?" Lilly sneered. 

"Lee taught History." Clementine said coldly. She noticed Lillys air of superiority falter then, even though her back was to Clementine. 

She sighed as she continued to pat down the fractured sandstone. "Sorry... I don't mean to get so-"

"Bitter?" Clementine sniped. Lilly ignored the jibe and went on.

"I don't mean to. Sometimes I just find it hard, around you. I'll admit that. Before, at the start. It was hell. But looking back, those guys wouldn't be a bad bunch to be running with now... I was so fucking rash back then."

"Even Kenny?"

"Fuck Kenny. That motherfucker murdered my father. I'd still put his head on a pike, today." She said, fuse inadvertently lit by Clementine, though Lilly herself managed to fan the flames.

"Look, the point is I regret killing Carley. There was another way and things could have been different had I not done what I did. Seeing you every day is a reminder of that and its like, barbs under the skin for me. But, I shouldn't use Lee to get a rise out of you. He was a good man, despite what he'd supposedly done..." She tailed off.

Clementine wondered whether she should mention anything. After all it was in the very distant past, and letting Lilly know she hadn't even murdered the right person over the Save Lots Bandits issue seemed like it could only cause more pain that she clearly already felt over the matter.

"Did you like Lee?" She asked, tentatively. Lilly had never shown one iota of indication in regards to her love life, past or present and Clementine simply had the urge to know.

"I... uh, respected him. Like I said, a good man. I wish I'd gotten the time to know him more. We butted heads, but leaders do." Clementine decided not to push the issue. The wrong reply and Lilly would clam up, this was easy to predict.

She had been searching for a way to continue pulling blood from Lillys stone when Violet and Louis hollered from their advanced position around fifty feet ahead.

"I think we've got it!" Violet shouted. They were both holding apart the overgrown greenery when the rest of their number converged at their behest.

Sure enough there it was. 

The opening they had been looking for seemed surprisingly narrow at first glance, the mouth still relatively well lit by the cracks of natural light spitting through the tree tops to their location, though come night fall they would be well and truly in the dark. Perfect.

"It looks so homely!" Louis announced sarcastically.

"How do we know there aren't bears and shit in there?" Minnie asked to incredulity of those around her.

"I don't think you'll find too many bears squeezing through that thing...." Violet answered, kneeling by the cave entrance and measuring a height between them and her shoulder.

"A honey badger on the other hand...." Louis said, throwing up his free hand in a claw like imitation.

"Badgers are cute." Sophie piped up, still watching over her brother, who was thankfully now sitting upright of his own volition.

"Not Honey Badgers. Them fuckers'll rip your balls off cleaner than Ryan over here." Minnie said, mostly for Clementine and Violets amusement as they had been the only ones to witness her handy work.

"The differencee being Honey Badgerss are indescriminate. They don't care iff you're a rapist or not." Ryan added, not caring to argue Minnie's insensitive comparison.

Lilly let out a projected sigh. "Does anybody actually want to get the rest they apparently need? Or is Honey Badger trivia more important than keeping your heads on your shoulders?"

She slipped past Louis and Violet, chucking her backpack into the darkness without really checking the depth of the drop; luckily it could be heard hitting the rocky floor almost immediately.

"What is it with her and decapitation?" Louis said after she had moved far enough into the cave that the natural light lost out to the darkness. 

"The only sure fire way to kill anything these days." Clementine said, ushering AJ down through the gap.

She found she had to turn on her front to actually drop into the cavern though, the jutting rocks ready to seriously injure the back of anyone who braved entering it that way. Everybody else would follow her demonstration.

The cold in the cavern was crisp, and she could feel decades of dust particles from the shifting rocks hit the back of her throat as she breathed in.

"AJ, put your jumper up over your mouth, I don't want the dust settling on your chest." Clementine said. 

Though moving deeper in to make room for the rest left her unable to see much of anything at all ahead, the light of the tunnels exit shrinking as she did so, the ground precariously uneven.

"Can we even stay here over night without breaking our necks?" Clementine asked in Lillys direction, her bodiless reply echoing back through.

"We could. But I'd rather not. The night has its drawbacks when it comes to walkers, but we can use it to our advantage in evading whoever those fuckers are."

"Did you get a good look at them?" Clementine asked, bouncing her voice back down the walls.

"Not much in the chaos. Just that there were more than I was comfortable taking on. I only had so many bullets left, less now."

"Did you hit any of them?"

"Killed one for definite. Another I probably only maimed. I didn't stick around to find out." Her echo this time was loud, signalling Clementine that advancement on her part had stopped.

Sure enough a few seconds later she walked into the outstretched hand of Lilly. "I think this is as far as we go unless we're compromised. There's a steep ish drop here and we don't want to get lost."

Clementine agreed with her decision, and had been just about to let the rest know when someone nudged into her slightly.

The touch hadn't been much heavier than a feather but with the rocks under foot it didn't need to be and she lost her balance. Whoever it was had realised in the split second it took and flailed in attempt to grab her.

Though they only half succeeded as Clementines weight pulled them like dominoes to the hard surface too, sending Lilly down the steep drop she had just warned them about.

"Oww!" Clementine said, lifting both she and the accidental assaulter up with her hips the few inches it took to slide her arm underneath to assauge her spine.

It had only taken one expletive for her to realise it was Minnie who had once again found her way on top of Clementine, though the latter had to believe this one wasn't intentional with the lack of any visual sense.

"Fucking fuck, sorry, uh- who is this?" She said, patting Clementines face as though she could determine it was her by touch alone.

"It's Clementine! You're clumsy." She answered. Minnie then made the bold motion of moving her hands down to Clementines chest, running her fingers once again over her collarbones.

"So it is! I can tell now. And yes I am clumsy! But this does give me a good idea for a game." She answered in a rather sordid tone.

"I don't need to see to know whats on that mind of yours Minnie and I'm going to kill the idea before you even open your mouth..." Violets voice came.

"What!?" Minnie replied indignantly, still on top of Clementine, who took it upon herself to sit upright while she was still being straddled, her nose accidentally touching what had to be one of Minnies breasts.

She was getting that tensing between her legs again.

"Your sisters here, we have two kids, and two adults. You see the problem?" Violet voiced.

"Well obviously the kids would be sent off to play! And we'd work around the whole risk of incest. The rest of us are practically adults, I mean whats a little game of spin the bottle." She laughed, though Violets voice audibly raised in dismay.

"I'd need to have emptied that bottle myself before I even thought of doing that with anyone here besides Clem, no offence people."

"Some taken..." Louis said, although Violets sexuality meant he should be the least offended of the lot.

"It didn't take that to get your pants around your ankles for me when we were together." Minnie said, slyly. Ryan interjected here sensing the devolving exchange.

"Woah, woah. Letss stop there. Okay?" She asked, as Clementine heard movement from below her.

It tipped off Minnie too, who promtly leaned forward to begin crawling completely over the body of Clementine, smacking her in the face with her large chest in the process.

Clementine reached out to halt this and found Minnies throat. "Would you kindly not?" She said, though a fleeting notion born from somewhere in her pelvic region had her feeling that Minervas thighs around her head could be quite desirable.

If she wasn't with Violet, of course. Again she found herself having to blink away the corrupt image from her head.

She just couldn't understand it. She was happy with Violet, completely. They hadn't had so much as a real argument before the water tower and it had been forgotten almost instantly. They got each other. They loved each other.

Did love leave room for someone else? If felt wrong even imagining anyone but Violet in that way, and it wasn't like she didn't desire her either. She wanted to explore her body. Kiss it. Lick it.

Was it okay to look as long as she didn't touch? Minnie grabbed hold of her arm to remove it from where she had placed it, testing this line of thinking completely when Minnie leaned over to whisper into her ear...

"Very kinky. But maybe later." She said, removing Clementines grip softly and climbing over her anyway. Clem stayed there for a second until the usual sour tone of Lilly made itself known again.

"Dumb fucks. Thanks for knocking me down here. Anybody wanna help me back up when you're good and ready?" She said, salty.

Both Clementine and Minnie leaned over the edge of the drop to the black and waved their hands in the dirty atmosphere searching for Lillys own. They were unsuccessful.

Luckily Ryan had the height lanky enough to reach down and find Lilly in the pit. She however did not have the strength and required Louis and Minnie's help in heaving her and Lillys combined weight back up to safety.

It had been quite the undertaking without any visual aids to help in the rescue but they managed it. Lilly responded to this with her usual non-gratitude.

"Get me a bottle of that Jack, Louis." She said.

"I'm saving it!" He protested. Reminding Clementine of her vow to stay coffee free for two weeks, and how she hadn't even had time to notice the withdrawl symptoms with all the adrenaline that had been forced to course through her body over the previous five or so days.

"I think we've all earned a drink." Lilly said, patience waned.

"Do you think that's a good idea, Lilly? If we are moving out later tonight then you're going to need to be sober." Clementine tried to remind her, but it fell on deaf ears.

"Thanks, Mom, but I can hold my liqour. Now break me open a bottle." They heard the sound of her clicking her fingers. "Come on, you've got more than enough in there, kid." Louis didn't reply, but could be heard removing his own rucksack with a sigh.

Next thing Clementine saw after feeling the rush of air of Lilly passing was her slender figure reaching the tunnels exit, bag in hand. The rest of them stood without her in the dark.

"We're not going anywhere today if she gets plastered." Violet said.

"Well I mean, if thats the case then we might as well get loaded too, right?" Minnie asked. "No point standing here in the dark waiting to die, sober." 

She took off after Lilly. Clementine shook her head, if there were two people on this earth that needed no liquid confidence it was those two. She figured they were terrible drunks.

"I guess whats good for the goose, is good for the gander." Louis replied defeatedly.

"I don't think that quite applies here, Lou. Last thing we need is to be intoxicated when we've got a hunting party chasing us down."

"Well we don't need to get wasted, Vi. Just a little warmth inside. Remember when we'd kick it at Erikson? Like old times." He said, trying to coax her into relenting.

"Yeah I remember. That was right after Sophie and Minnie got kidnapped and I wanted to feel numb every second I was awake. I think I'll pass." She replied coldly.

"Suit yourself." Louis said, tired of trying to brighten her mood. "Either way I'm already tired of not being able to see the hand in front of my face. I'm out." He too took off then, leaving the rest to slowly follow.

Even if they didn't want to drink, they did want to see again. Lilly and Minnie were already swigging from a bottle when they  regained their sight. The way they passed it back and forth had Clementine surmise they'd probably done this one or twice before back at Delta.

Louis unscrewed the lid of a small bottle that had clear liquid inside. Sipping from it resulted in him damn near choking on the alcohol, he obviously hadn't expected the kick.

"Whooof. Yeah that's- uh- strong?" He spluttered a bit more, his throat clearly burning.

"We call that paint stripper." Lilly said, smiling at Louis' inability to take it down properly.

"Well, here's to paint stripper... and hopefully not dying because we're too drunk too fight..." He said, taking another gulp and raising the bottle in the air.

Half the circle chuckled at his morbid gesture, while the other half abstained, split over the scene unfolding.

This could get messy. In more ways than even Clementine knew possible.


	20. Loose Lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I rewrote a lot of this chapter over the few days its taken. It was meant to go in a lot more sordid territory, but I realised it seemed convoluted and forced. And i'm not about that.. if I can help it.
> 
> With all the rewrites my mind has been unsure as to whether I'm happy putting this out. But i'm posting anyway and hope to have a better last third of my story going forward.
> 
> Let me know what you guys think :)

*

An hour or so later Minnie and Lilly had cleaned off two bottles to themselves. Somewhere along the way the rest had found themselves joining in.

Ryan and Sophie hadn't taken much convincing and Violet had only relented with a little push from Clementine, who had assured her that by nightfall they would be more than sober enough to have their wits about them.

Violet had at first pledged that she would only partake with a few mouthfuls but once the mood lightened enough for laughter to start she found it impossible not to want the same feeling of weightlessness.

Louis had taken things slower with his 'paint stripper' but had also just let the last drop touch his tongue before flinging it out of the cavern blindly.

"You know how your head spins when you're drunk? Well, what if you're actually just feeling the earth literally rotating, you know? Like- the alcohol slows your brain down enough to experience it?" He pondered aloud, head back and staring down the rocky cieling above.

Lilly damn near spat the contents of her mouth out in reaction, catching it in enough time that it instead seeped down her chin. So much for her handling her liquour.

"You kids really are something else. How old even are you all?" She said, wiping it away. 

"I think we're all sixteen to eighteen. Besides Ryan and the kiddies of course." Louis replied.

"Okay, well while you're pondering the workings of the cosmos. I've got something for you to wrap your head around. We're in the zombie apocalypse, right? And generations are designated different letters that correspond to their, well, birth decades. You following?"

It seemed clear to Clementine that he'd been left by the wayside already but he nodded anyway for her to go on, and she did after another swig.

"I'm generation X, for instance. Then we had generation Y, and then we had you guys. The last generation to be born before said apocalypse. Generation Z...." Lilly let this revelation hang there until one of them clicked.

"Z for Zombie." Sophie said, doe eyed due to the alcohol. Her cheeks had become rosy, offsetting her otherwise pale complexion.

Louis' eyes widened at this statement. Clearly in awe through his intoxicated state. Minnie too had been astounded somewhat comically.

"Holy shit. That's fucking deep!" She said, her eyes starting to become bloodshot at the edges. They all delved into stifled laughter where they would normally find this information quite disturbing.

Clementine felt a tap on her shoulder and released her hand from Violets to turn around. "Yeah, kiddo?"

AJ was holding some of his drawing penicils out in his palm. "I'm missing some." He said, clearly peturbed. "I had more than this!"

"Well, check in my backpack, maybe they slipped down to the bottom?" She proposed.

"I already did that, Clem. I can't find them in there. I need the blue one to colour in my sky!" He said, sadly, his bottom lip starting to droop. It was nice to see AJs troubles being so insignificant compared to what usually made him sad.

"Well, kiddo, maybe we left them behind on the rooftop? We had to leave pretty quickly after all... they could have fallen out of my bag, or you left them out before sleeping? I'm sorry, AJ." She finished, everyones laughter ringing in her ears behind at whatever subject they were on now.

AJ gave a melodramatic sigh at this information and nodded sadly before he walked off to plonk himself back down next to Tenn who had gained enough recouperation to be able to sit and draw pictures.

Clementine reattached her hand in Violets, who leaned over to rest her head on the formers shoulder and giggling at something that had been said. Clementine knew she was tipsy at the very least.

"I can't believe you actually suggested playing spin the bottle with your sister." Lilly said, at Minnies earlier comments.

"Oh, come on. It wouldn't be like, say, me kissing Clem over here. I don't find my sister sexually attractive - obviously. So kissing her in a silly game would do nothing for me. The only way anyone would need to worry is if it did, you know?" Minnie argued, drinking again.

"I guess. But we'd never be able to tell if you were! Anyway, maybe Sophies the one that'd get a little tingle" Lilly laughed. It was extremely odd and yet satisfying to see her let go of the perpetual aggression she always carried inside, even if it was to currently debate the ethics of incest.

"Ew, fuck off, no!" Sophie piped up. "I like boys anyway."

"Yeah, because thats the defining reason you wouldn't be getting wet at kissing your sister." Lilly replied, shaking her head.

"At least she can get wet." Minnie said, to the chagrin of her target.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Lilly asked, offended, though she didn't know quite why yet.

"You're old. Bet you're all dried up down there now." Minnie laughed. Louis essentially projected what he had in his mouth across the circle, splashing both Clementine and Violet.

"Fuck sake, Louis! You're drunk but you don't have to become a fucking Mongoloid in the process!" Violet said, brushing herself down, then doing the same for Clementine, her cold hands touching her chest and then rubbing up and down on her shirt to dry it off.

She tried to ignore her nipples hardening at her touch, stopping Violet against her better judgement, paranoid that somehow the rest would realise she was getting aroused.

"You cheeky bitch, I assure you everything down there is in good working order." Lilly said, clearly offended. "I've just not had the opportunity in a while to feel anything. I'm no carpet muncher."

"You know Louis has a dick right? Don't be fooled by the girly hair." Minnie teased back.

"Yeah and he'ss also underage!" Ryan spoke, peturbed by the direction the conversation was going.

"Barely." Louis said. Ryan shot him a look that said he needn't be making a case for them.

"He'ss still like, twenty yearss younger than Lilly."

"Hey, beggars can't be choosers these days. There ain't exactly a lot of the population to choose from anymore." Lilly replied. Ryan had looked rather shocked at what she thought Lilly was suggesting before Lilly went on.

"Oh, calm yourself, sweetheart. I'm not going to let Louis pork me. Christ. I try not to shit where I eat, get me?" Lilly threw back another gulp and stood up to leave.

"Where are you going?" Ryan asked, accusingly.

"I'm going for a piss. Is that okay with you? Or do you wanna come hold my hand? Hey, maybe thats why you're so against me getting some. Sorry, but like I told you, I'm no carpet muncher." She said scathingly before pulling herself up unbalanced and going to relieve herself.

"I'm not either!" Ryan called after, lowering her voice enough so she wouldn't hear her call her a bitch.

"Well, that was heading toward disturbing territory." Clementine said to fill the silence.

"More like warped territory." Violet added, squeezing her hand. 

Clementine felt the sudden urge to kiss Violet hard then, and she did so, her lips wet with the alcohol.

"Damn, Clem. What was that for?" Violet asked bashfully after Clementine had finished exploring her tongue in front of the others. Something they had only done when they were completely alone.

Clementine shrugged. There were many reasons she could give. The alcohol lowering her inhibitions was certainly one of them. Her hormones were getting harder to control with each sip.

She could also say she did it to get under Minerva's skin. After all their talk by the sidewalk had clearly been bullshit as she had eventually just gone back to trying to tempt Clem. 

The fact it had actually managed to leave an impression made her angry, and Clem needed to show the spite she was capable of if Minnie wanted to carry on pushing her.

Instead she opted for a different truth.

"I love you. And I felt like it." She said, causing Violet to smile bashfully and return the sentiment. 

Clementine noticed Minnie watching them, and knew her display of affection had done what she wanted it to.

"We should play the game." Minnie said, standing up before the group. Violet once again shook her head no, which only exacerbated Minnie's annoyance.

"No way, Minnie. It's going to make things incredibly awkward and we don't need that going forward." 

Minnie scoffed in response. "Stop being such a prude, Vi!" She said, a little too aggressive for Clementines liking.

"Come on, guys. Can we please not argue? I think we've got enough to worry about out there without kicking off amongst ourselves." She said, slightly regretting what she had done now that Violet was to be on the recieving end of Minerva's vitriol.

She wasn't sure how much she'd had to drink so far, only that it was nowhere near as much as the likes of Lilly, Minnie and the others. Then again she'd not exactly had much opportunity before to build up a tolerance to the stuff.

In fact she had only tasted alcohol a couple of times at all, remembering her first sip offered to her by Jane of all people. Especially when she had gone on to recount the horror story of how it had led to her trying to eat glass.

People did and said stupid things when drunk, and yet when Minnie had announced she needed to relieve herself too, clearly frustrated enough to make anything up to leave, Clementine found herself following for a confrontation.

"Uh, I need to go too, actually." She said, stepping unsteady over the tangle of legs on the cavern floor. "I'll see you in a minute, Vi."

She stepped out into the fresh, day time air and inhaled deeply, thankful for the lack of dust in it. Clem then set her sights on Minnie and found her slipping behind a tree.

She puffed out her chest as she rounded the same tree a few seconds later, ready to put Minnie in her place yet again. But she immediately threw her head back in the opposite direction when she realised she really had needed to pee.

Her jeans were around her ankles and she had been in the process of squatting down. "Fuck, sorry! I- uh-" Clementine said, thrown completely off from the high ground she'd been about to take.

"Why? We've all got the same stuff." Minnie said at her back, though she sounded decidedly fed up.

"That doesn't mean I wanna see yours" Clementine said, feeling her face flush red, and folding her arms.

"Yeah. You made that perfectly clear the other day." Minnie replied, refusing to put her need to pee on hold, Clementine heard it puddling on the ground. 

She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to regain her train of thought. "So, why did you do that again, earlier?"

"What? Falling on you? It was pitch black and I couldn't see shit."

"No. I know that. I mean staying on me afterwards. I already proved I would be loyal to Violet. So what gives!?" She demanded, wishing she could plug her ears to the sound of Minnie's pee and still hear her reply.

"You did. But I've gotta get my action somewhere." Minnie said. Clem couldn't see her face but knew it was smirking. She could feel it.

"Well, get it elsewhere." Clementine tried to assert confidently. Minnie tried to continue her confident tone as she replied but it had a noticeable hesitation within the words.

"Maybe I- don't, want to..."

"Why the fuck would you not want to? Was all that about protecting Violet bullshit?" Clementine asked, wishing she could turn around, Minerva needed to know how serious she was.

The crunching of leaves underfoot and sound of a loose belt flapping about told her Minnie was finished relieving herself.

"No, it wasn't bullshit. I meant everything I said the other day, Clem. It kills me watching her and you together. Thanks for that back in there by the way. A real classy move." She said, referring to Clementines kiss.

"Well you pissed me off! I've tried talking to you, that clearly didn't work. So what am I supposed to do?" Minnie was quiet for a moment, Clementine pricked her ears ready for another sarcastic reply.

"You could convert to polygamy." Minnie said. And there it was.

"That's not funny."

"What if it wasn't meant to be..."

Clementine almost turned around in shock at Minnie's apparent brash honesty but stopped herself unsure if Minnie had covered her modesty.

But then she felt Minnie reach out and touch her arm. "Clem, turn around."

"Are you decent!?" Clementine asked for confirmation, though without any she allowed Minnie to spin her slowly. They looked at each other in the eyes.

"I'm sorry if I'm making you angry. I said it before and meant it, and I'm saying it now. I'm not exactly sure what sparked it, and I know its wrong, especially when I still love Violet." Her grey eyes were filled with sincerity, try as Clementine might to avoid them.

"You need to stop, Minnie. You're drunk. And you can't take back what you say when you sober up." Clementine pleaded, pulling her arm away from Minnie's touch.

"A drunk mans thoughts are a sober mans talk." Minnie said, shrugging. Her eyes darted, chasing Clementines in attempt to reconnect them. That wasn't the first time she'd heard that phrase. The last time coming after Bonnie let slip her feelings on Luke.

Luke. Clementine remembered him then in an instant of struggling to maintain control on her thoughts. Realising just how many horrible memories she had that were tied to water. The walker taking him to the icy depths being by far the worst.

Minnie pressed on at Clementines lack of response. "Look, at first I really was just testing you. And you passed, and I was happy you did. I respected the fuck out of you after that."

"But not enough to respect my relationship?" Minnie managed to catch Clementines eye again for a moment then after stepping closer and using a finger to tilt Clem's chin back up.

"Let me finish. Okay? You followed me out here. Now you're going to get your answers." She waited for Clementines acknowledgement but the latter found herself struggling to control her own mouth from revealing the things she wanted to get off her chest.

"I respected you. But I think thats where the problem started. Full disclosure here, I've always found you attractive. You are something beautiful, believe me. But thats where it stopped. Until, I got to see how you work. The way you love Violet, the way you protect us all without thought for yourself. Shit, even the way you act with AJ."

Clementine let her gaze drift down to Minnie's lips as she talked, her breath smelt heavily of alcohol and they were cracked to hell, but still they managed to look kissable. And that was a problem.

"Somewhere that respect, it turned into admiration. And then more.... and now I see two people that I've got these feelings for together and it's like ten times harder than it already was... It's fucked I know. But that's the truth - even though I'll deny the fuck out of it when I sober up." 

Minnie finished her confession, and flung her hands out as if she was throwing away all the pent up frustration she had now clearly been carrying.

"Well, shit." Clementine replied. At a loss to how to adequately reply.

"That's all you got? You not going to throw me up against this tree?" Minnie said, half teasing, half apprehensive.

"No..." She said finally, the next part slipping past her lips before she had chance to check herself. "And if I did it wouldn't be to punch you..."

Clementine stepped away, wishing she hadn't given in to drinking. She felt her face getting red again in embarassment, knowing now how Bonnie must have felt...

But Minnie had been given a bone, and now she would not let it drop. "Wait, what does that mean?"

"Nothing. Forget it." Clementine said, ready to sprint off and pretend the conversation had never started in the first place. But Minnie, being taller and stronger than Clem manhandled her, albeit gently, swapping their places so Clementines back was now the one against the tree.

"Tell me. Please? I told you all that shit just now." Minnie said, anticipation in her voice, her stance in close proximity to Clementine.

"I love Violet, Minnie." Clem said, trying to keep to the facts she was willing to divulge. She bowed her head to look at the floor, which was wet and not due to the rain either.

Though Minnie holding this conversation stood in her own piss didn't seem to phase her. She pushed Clementines chin back up again and placed a hand on her hip.

"I know you do, Clementine. And?" Minerva inched forward until their noses almost touched. Clementine didn't want to say it. There would be no going back.

She would be pinning her hopes on Minnie finally understanding and backing off, but it could easily go the other way. Clementines head was firmly against the tree, and she could feel Minnies bangs tickling her cheek she was so close.

She breathed in deeply, readying herself for the admission.

"And.... you're making it... hard for me." Clementine turned her head away to the side and now Minnies hair touched her neck. She could almost feel the intensity radiate from Minnie as she pressed for more.

"Hard for you to do what?" Clementine bit her lip before she answered, her face was hot even in the cold air, and her mouth had dried out rapidly in trepidation of letting Minnie ever hear the next words out of her mouth.

"To resist... you."


	21. Sobering Words

*

"W-what? You like me?" Minnie said in her double take. Clementine struggled to adequately answer this question, it only being partially true.

"No! I mean, kind of... I don't think we'd play well together." Clementine answered, trying to play down the reveal.

"Why not?" Minnie said, trying to understand. Clementine shook her head though. Minnie had her under the thumb when it came to flaunting her sexuality, Clementines own hormones betrayed her there. But she would not allow Minnie to over power her mind, her morals.

"It doesn't matter, Minnie! Really. I love Violet, and you- always coming onto me is making it hard. It's making me feel really guilty for even thinking of you that way." Clementine said, trying to keep a hushed tone. Not that it would matter anyway if Violet even ducked her head out of the cavern.

She would see her girlfriend against a tree and her ex pressed against her, a thumb now subtly snaking its way into her jeans. It stopped at that though.

"Thinking of me in what way?" Minnie asked, her breath on Clementines neck as she still evaded her gaze, unsure of what Minnie would try if she gave in and met it.

"You know what way, Minnie. You keep getting like this-" She gestured to their current state, only clothing separating their skin now. "-Rubbing against me, its too much. I'm sorry that I can't give you what you want, but you have to stop- forcing me."

Minnie was silent. As though Clems words were literally sobering her up to what she was doing. Clementine felt she was making a little headway so she continued against the wave of her own urges.

"The other day, in the Roadhouse when you and her went off and found that Dmitri? You took so long that I came looking for you both and I had this, this horrible feeling in my stomach when I heard you both in that room. Worrying that maybe you two were.... you know." She paused, but knew that Minnie was smart enough to understand.

"The thought of Violet ever doing that to me was unbearable. I never want her to have that same worry about me. So, as much as I might feel like it sometimes, with you... I can't allow myself. Even this is over the line." She finished, slowly removing Minnies thumb from inside her jeans and then standing into her so she would allow some breathing space.

Minerva was now the one who stalled eye contact when Clementine tried to get a response. She could see her eyes had become glassy and she bit her lip, likely in attempt to stop it trembling any.

She always had to be the tough one, and Clementine knew her putting these feelings out there so boldly had to be hard for her to begin with. Let alone having them rebuffed in somewhat of a non-commital way by Clementine.

Maybe she shouldn't have even said as much as she did. Even if the struggle not to give in to her base desires was the truth, Minerva knowing they were there but being unable to act on them must feel like some kind of blue balls.

"Say something?" Clementine said, she needed to know Minerva would be okay, that she would stop. Clem wasn't sure how much more she could take in trying to hold out, as much as it would make her hate herself to lose control.

Finally Minerva did speak.

"I understand, Clem. I have feelings for you both, and I'd give, fuck, so much to feel what this could be. But I'm not going to take us all down because I can't get what I want...." She said, assuredly and yet tormented as the words left her lips, her naturally pouted, kissable lips.

"Thank you, Minnie-" Clementine started but Minnie held out a finger and placed it on her lips to silence her. She felt the quiver again.

"I'm not finished. I'm not going to take us all down because I can't get what I want. Yet." She paused to let that last word sink in. "There's something here, Clementine. And you confirmed it. There's something between me and Violet too, that never went away, as much as she will protest. It's just buried."

She dragged her finger down off Clems lips and down her neck, taking her touch away before she reached more delicate parts.

"I'll play nice from now on. Scouts honour. I'm not going to so much as touch you. And fuck, that's going to be hard. But there will come a day, Clem. You and I. We'll be something more. And you'll fucking like it."

She cocked her head to the side then, so the unshaven side of her hair fell off her freckled face. Eyes no longer bloodshot. Then she tapped Clementine on the chin, gaining a strange burst of energy.

"Well, I won't touch you starting now. Anyway. That's probably a lot to process, so I'll give you a few minutes. Violets going to think you piss like a race horse!" 

She turned away then, and Clementine watched her go, wondering how a girl could be so wicked and yet so alluring in the same skin. Minnie didn't turn to look back to make sure Clem was watching, she didn't need to.

"Good girl!" Came a deep and decidedly patronising tone to Clementines side. It had made her jump out of her skin and almost end up in Minnie's piss before she learned who it had belonged to. 

Of course, Lilly. She leaned against a neighboring tree, a smirk on her sunken features. Clementine wondered how she'd managed to come up on she and Minnie without alerting either.

"I gotta admit, I thought you might have let her have her way with you for a minute there. Should have known better though, you're loyal to a fault." She continued, pushing herself off the tree and circling Clem at a few paces.

"To a fault?" Clementine echoed, regaining her sobering state the longer she inhaled the chilly air. Lilly raised her eyebrows as though it should've been quite clear.

"Not many people would have dragged me out of harms way after what I did to you, and that school. As much as I'm grateful for it." She added. "I'm not looking for a pity party, but I'm not so sure why you did that for me. Even now." She quietened, wanting to get those answers.

Clementine decided to be brutally honest, feeling somewhat left wanting after only feeding Minnie half truths. She pushed her own back off the thick trunk Minnie had pushed her against.

"I didn't do it for you. I did it for me. Every one I've known gets taken away from me. And most of the time there's nothing I could have done about it. So when I can, I do. Lee chose to keep you with us in the R.V.... before you stole it. He wanted to find another way. So did I." Clementine said, proudly.

Even if she did want to bang Lillys head against the wall half the time she opened her mouth. Clementine started to walk past Lilly but she grabbed her by the wrist. Clem sighed, not ready for another quarrell.

"He'd be proud of you for it." Lilly said instead, subverting expectations. "You keep that about you, hear me? That loyalty." She cocked her head back as if to motion behind her.

"That girl is bad news. I know it when I see it. Your Violet is a little bit of a wet drip, but she's good for you. Stands up when needed. But her, she'll feel like a whirlwind at first, but once your heads done spinning, there will be nothing but destruction in her wake. I've known that. Fuck, I've been that-" She fell silent suddenly, probably recalling something, or someone in her past.

Still, it had Clementine looking over her shoulder just in case she had spotted trouble afoot. She hadn't. Not that Clem could see herself.

"Thanks, Lilly. Do you- uh- want to come back in? Get some rest if we're moving out later?" Lilly let go of her wrist then, her minds eye returning to the real world.

"Yeah. We better had. We've got a lot of ground to make up." She said, shortly. Losing the slight warmth she had grown in her interactions since they had started knocking back bottles.

Slipping back into the cave she found AJ asleep, sprawled out over his drawings, but covered over with Violets new, blood dried jacket. 

Clementine felt gratitude and guilt in equal measure, Violet had again been the one to put him down on her behalf. Almost like a nanny for Clementines ever growing disappearing acts.

She lay with him. Her eyes were closed, but they flickered subtly at Clementines presence. 

Minnie was the only one still awake, but she blanked Clementine as she stroked Tenns hair for comfort. Clem moved past her to closer Kin though she didn't want to disturb them trying to find some space beside them, so she instead settled at Violets feet.

"You were out there a while." Violet stated, though her voice wasn't sleepy like she'd just awoken. She had likely been laying there waiting for a while.

Clementine shuffled uncomfortably on the floor. She didn't want to lie to Violet. But she couldn't well tell her that she'd been forced against a tree and made to admit her feelings for someone else.

She'd entertained the idea of throwing Minnie under the bus before, to cover her own back. But it wasn't an option now that Minnie had the knowledge to break Violet and her apart.

"Yeah, sorry, Vi. I- er- needed the fresh air. Felt like I was going to throw up and didn't want to do it where we're sleeping. I love you." She added, sticking a truth on the end of her lies and using Violets response to gage if she was annoyed.

"Oh. Okay." She said. Clementines stomach muscles contracted violently at the lack of her returning the 'i love you.'

"Are you okay?" Clementine asked concerned. Violet was quiet for long enough that she thought she may have actually drifted off until she replied.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Love you too." And with that she turned over, signalling the end of her part in the conversation. Clem face burned hot at Violets curtness. She clearly wasn't okay, but now wasn't the time to air the problems. She needed to sleep.

The cloak of nightfall awaited them.


	22. Hunter and Hunted

*

They had departed Laurel Caverns as intended, adequately shrouded - at least they hoped - by both the night and the sea of trees.

That was until they crossed the border into West Virginia, there they had to shift back onto the course they had been taking until the Hunting Party had forced them further East than they'd planned.

It had taken them three extra hours all told just to get back to the route Lilly had mapped for them. And it had been hours filled with complaints of hangovers and generally irritating behaviour.

Sophie was visibly ill, even in the pitch black she was ghostly pale. Moreso than Clementine was accustomed to. She tried to suffer in silence but every few miles she would wretch and they would have to stop until she was sure it was another false alarm.

Louis was also suffering the effects, lamenting the strange feeling of emptyness in the pit of his stomach that came with every drinking session he had ever succumbed to. 

A feeling that could not be soothed by no amount of food nor water. Clementine could sympathise entirely. But the indentical symptoms she felt inside were not born of excessive alcohol consumption, but rather Violets continued quiet.

She wasn't being rude, or even explicity giving Clementine the cold shoulder, she was just off in some way that Clem couldn't pin point with certainty. They held hands, and yet her grip felt limper than usual.

She would smile at Violet, and recieve one back, but a half second slower than Clementine was used to. She wondered if she was simply being paranoid, fearing at the same time that she wasn't. That somehow Violet knew about the physical attraction she had for another.

Was it really that bad? She was being stupid. Violet and Minnie had once been an item. She couldn't just turn herself off to that physical appeal Minerva had. No more than Clementine could. It was natural. As long as neither acted on their impulses, she should understand....

Shouldn't she?

"Do you think they are still following uss?" Questioned Ryan, bringing Clem back from the four walls of worry in her head.

"They'd have to be pretty dedicated." Louis proposed, hopeful that they weren't.

"Truth is we have no idea. They could have gone out ahead of us by now, or still be behind. That's if they even bothered to give chase beyond Uniontown. Threat could have easily been idle." Clementine said, though she didn't believe it for a second.

Lilly chimed in with confirmation. "I took out two of their guys, and I heard the crazy in their voices when they called after us. They're out here somewhere, believe me."

It wasn't sound logic, but Clementine had encountered enough lunatics in her time to know it was entirely possible. Hell, Carver had crossed state lines to blindly track down the cabin group. And succeeded in doing so.

They regained their cover when they entered Coopers Rock State Forest, one of the places that Lilly had designated as a rest stop, originally intending to have reached it before nightfall. 

As it was the group were having the devils own job to evade the arboreous land all around them, a task almost as testing as the surprise walker attacks that continued to befall them as they moved stealthly onward.

Lacking much of any sight left everyone with their ears pricked for any alien movement, yet with all crunching leaves from the footfall of the survivors, it rendered pre-empting such attacks mute. 

Each time it was a snarl from point blank range that would be their earliest signal someone could soon be missing a chunk of flesh. And without the spacial awareness, the target was often required to fend for themselves as any interference from the rest could result in blindly decaptating one of their own.

It did nothing but age Clementines heart considerably whenever this happened. And it did so more than she would have liked. The cry from a companion would ring out and her heart would immediately batter her ribs as the panic and tension would flip to fever pitch.

Waiting for the sound of a fatal blow and the panting announcement of "I'm okay" from the victor among them. She knew the all too real horror of fighting walkers in the darkness. Though even she had had the glow of a flashlight when she'd finished off Brody.

Tonight the moon was unable to do the same for them, the trees in their sheer number, standing almost shoulder to shoulder, prevented this.

So much so that in the end they had taken to linking themselves in single file, holding hands until they reached somewhere they could stay put until they had enough light to continue, realising how risky it was becoming.

They had no specific location in mind to pause at once they breached Coopers Rock, and a decade of unmaintained vegetation had almost caused them to miss one such sufficient place until Tenn drew their attention to it.

It was a simple shelter built in a clearing, using long thin trunks of wood with only a triangular roof and two walls either side. Both of which were thick with moss enveloping them completely.

The other two sides were left open as entrances, though the grass and plants had grown tall enough to obscure easy access. Violet had made a move to start hacking away at them with her hatchet before Lilly told her otherwise.

"Stop. We can use all this as cover. It'll keep inside a little warmer too."

Once they had fought their way inside they were predictably confronted by little other than picnic benches to sit at, which was fine by Clementine, her backside was getting tired of being parked on the floor.

She and the rest lumped their bags down on top of the tables, such a weight removed that Clementine felt like she would float away at any second. 

Louis slinked himself across one of the benches, indicating that he would be trying to sleep off that empty feeling he had been decrying.

"How long are we planning to be here?" Ryan asked, rubbing her arms up and down each other for the friction.

"Well we've slipped a little behind schedule. So I would rather it be a few hours at most before we get moving again. Once we see the sun start to rise." Lilly said, making the decision for everyone.

There were a few groans but no actual arguments for the contrary. All realising that the sooner they made haste the closer they got to The Greenbrier, which was now only a couple days away in thanks to being under Lillys order.

Most of their number set down to fill their stomachs, but Clementine was in no mood to eat. The knots inside wouldn't allow it. And when she saw Violet making no attempt either, she figured the air had to be cleared.

"Hey, Vi... you wanna go for a walk?" Clem asked tentatively, holding out her hand. Violet, who had been sitting with her face down over one of the tables raised it and looked at Clementines open palm for a few seconds before taking it.

"Yeah, sure Clem." She said, unhooking her legs and following her. Clementine called back to AJ before she pushed through the thicket of bushes to the other side again, letting him know her absence and to be good. Though since Marlon he had always been so.

They walked aimlessly through the clearing, with only the sound of their footsteps to fill the silence as Clementine searched how to start the conversation, and apology.

"Are you okay, Vi?"

"Yeah. Why? Should I not be?" Violet asked, her tone somewhat accusatory, it made Clementine feel like she knew what was troubling her.

"No... I don't know. You seemed a little pissed last night. And today, you've been uh, distant?"

"Is that a question or a statement?" Violet said, keeping her head facing forward, her hair sheilding her features from Clementine who was subsequently only able to rely on tone of voice for cues as to Violets disposition.

"I- a statement, I guess..." Clementine said, non committal. She too looked forward, able to see the silhouetted and mountainous ranges in the distance but looming nearer with the lack of trees around them now.

"I just feel like something is getting between us. I can't put my finger on it, but I sense it. It's... weird. And making me feel weird." Clementines heart skipped in fear. Something, or someone.

Her breath intensified and she was sure Violet would comment on this until she continued, saving Clementines blushes for a moment. 

"Maybe its that we're not getting any time together. It's been three days since we had a second alone like this. And I know how needy that sounds but I don't care. I DO need it. Especially when you could be taken away from me at any time."

"Taken away from you?" Clem questioned, her apprehension sending her on the wrong line of thinking.

"Yes. If the walkers weren't bad enough, now we have those sick fucks to worry about. There's always something." She sighed solemnly.

Clementine squeezed her hand to try and reassure her. "We'll be okay, Vi. We'll always come through."

"And that's good. But sometimes it's also the problem, Clem. We might. But others won't be as lucky, like Aasim. And we will always end up having to suffer living with the losses. You've told enough of yours for me to know how much that's going to beat me down."

Clementine struggled to counter these words with enough hope running out of space while she did, as they came to a halt a few metres away from a set of man made barriers stretching wide in front of them.

They had hit a ridge on their own mountain. One that sloped unevenly to an outlook spot where the barriers stood erected for the safety of those taking in the view.

Violet continued on to them, pulling Clementine with her. The moon, finally able to light the area beneath it allowed them to survey the sweeping scenery they held hands at the edge of.

The mountain range in front of them stood separated from the one they currently inhabited on the other side of a wide set river hundreds of metres below.

In fact they were so high up they couldn't hear how fast or slow the water was racing past as the light danced, reflecting off its surface.

Clementine glanced at Violet and saw her with some kind of awe on her face at the breathtaking view. Though her forehead furrowed intermittently, still somewhat unsettled.

She sat herself down and leaned forward, pressing her head between two small wooden posts of the barrier and looking out to the other side; to the vast landscape they would have to find a way to reach and traverse. The drop directly below would mean they would need to find a less steep way down.

Violet must have sensed Clementine looking at her because she discontinued her silence then, though her gaze stayed trained outward, the cool air blowing her hair off her face.

"Brody would have loved this."

Clementine had only encountered Brodys romancing about her bucket list once on the fishing trip but imagined Vi had been the regular confidant to those dreams before Minnie and Sophies kidnap had them grow distant.

"I'm sure she would, Vi. Maybe once we're safe and settled at The Greenbrier we can live out the rest of that bucket list for her?" Clementine suggested, sitting down beside her partner.

"That- would be really nice, Clem." She felt the friction between them start to melt away. "Do you have anything you want to do?"

Clementine tried her mind.

"I- I've never really had the time to stop and think about that stuff honestly. Most of my conversations with people have always revolved around the past. Regrets and that sort of thing. Like the best days are always going to be behind us. You?"

"I wanna hear music. Like regular old stuff coming out of a speaker. I have no memories tied to anything like that, but I want to make some. And, I want to fly." Clementine smiled at the impossibility, remembering Violets wish to be weightless.

"Well, unless you get reincarnated as a bird that's going to be tricky, Vi." She joked but Violet carried on, making her wishes more personal.

"I wanna make love to you.... and I just want to make you happy." Clementine felt the powerful sincerity in her words and returned them with her own truth.

"You do make me happy. Every minute. I'm so thankful for everything you bring to this crappy existence, Vi." The latter smiled, though it was with melancholy, almost like she had doubt.

"I hope so. Like I said, we don't get much time to just relax together and yesterday you took a really long time when you went to pee...." 

Clementine hesitated before repeating the lie she'd told Violet upon her return. "Yeah, I said I felt sick, remember?"

"Yeah. I remember. It's just Minnie came back in after you two had been out there a while and she looked kind of shitty. Is there something going on with you two again?" Violet asked, tearing her eyes away from the view and swiveling to instead bore them into Clementines own.

She swallowed slowly at being put on the spot, trying hard to keep her heart from palpitations as she looked for a way to avoid anybody coming out of her next sentence looking bad.

"Minnie was drunk. You know how she is sober at the best of times... so yeah, we did have a few choice words for each other out there honestly, but it's okay." Clementine finally said, hoping it would soothe Violet enough. It didn't.

"So why did you lie?"

"I don't know... I just didn't want you getting annoyed with her or whatever." Clementine said, this at least was true.

"Why would I get annoyed? What did she say?" They were on their way down the rabbit hole and Clementine feared if they would ever return from it if Violet got to the bottom of it. She fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Clem? Tell me." Violet prodded.

"She- she's still hurting okay? It's not really her fault. You two were a thing and then you weren't. She was left with her feelings and has to see me replacing her. Sometimes she just loses it- and that's fine!" Clementine added at Violets wide eyed reaction.

"No. That's not okay Clementine. The situation is- is hard on her I know but she can't talk to you like shit because she has a bad day over it!" Violet said, anger rising steadily.

Clementine felt bad, but she thought it a much better explanation than the truth that her struggles with Minnie had come about because of exact opposite reasons.

One that included uncontrollable infatuation on the part of Minnie, and Clementines ensuing struggle to keep her at arms length. Her head span at the mess it was causing the three of them.

Violet stood up and Clementine shot up too. "What are we doing?" She asked, as Violet started to stomp her way back.

"I'm going to tell Minnie to back off you. If she wants to take her anger out on someone then she can direct it at me." She replied, seething.

"Please, don't Vi. She'll know I told you, and-" Clementine stopped short before she accidentally revealed that Minnie would have ammunition to floor Violet and perhaps cause irreparable damage to their relationship.

"Vi.Violet? Violet STOP!" Clementine near shouted at Violets refusal to take heed. She grabbed her arm and pulled her to a stand still before Violet would reply.

"Jesus, Clem. Why does it matter? If the reason I felt you were being distant yesterday and by extension, that we had problems, was because Minnie threw a fit over us being together then that's a problem I need to fix."

Clementine had been readying a reply when Violet clamped her grip involuntarily on Clems forearm, her nails digging slightly into the skin. She would have taken the time to curse and ask what prompted it had she not been experiencing the same scare right at that moment. 

A deeply unsettling laughter in the near distance. Laughter Clementine had heard before. 

They exchanged no words as they both took off like bullets back toward the shelter they had spent mere minutes at before leaving to iron things out.

Panic restricting their ability to communicate, though they still managed a tight grip on one another as the wind whistled through their ears. The pain in Clementines knee rearing its head slightly at the sudden shock it was being made to absorb.

She had been trying to process just how the Hunting Party had been able to follow their trail so easily when she heard the smashing of glass, and then crackling as a blaze of flames projected upwards into the sky, like a dragon spitting them out.

They burst of light bathed Clementines eyes as she realised they were coming from the shelter. She pulled her line if sight back level a millisecond too late and collided with something that also thudded to the ground just as she, with Violet following suit due to their shared touch.

It took a few seconds for her vision to correct itself in which time she had already pounced up ready to defend herself from whatever it was, but a familiar voice tempered this act. However briefly.

"Get up! We have to move now! They're here." Lilly said as the maniacal laughter carried toward them. There was no need to give confirmation as Clementine immediately helped Violet up to her feet and span back around, though in doing so she realised a problem.

"We can't go that way! It's a ridge up there, and we'd never survive the climb down." Clementine said as she located AJs safety, taking him by the elbow and pulling him close to her.

"Fuck. Are you sure?" Lilly replied, hushed but forceful, her eyes darting back over her shoulder. "They're right on top of us!"

"Yes we're sure, Lilly!" Violet snapped. The sound of crackling roared on as she continued, prompting Clementine to look over her shoulder too and see the starting flames licking at the tree tops.

Thank god everyone had gotten out of there.

"We don't have time to argue people!" Louis hissed, visibly agitated and no wonder. The burly sounding voices were drawing closer. Clementine once again heard the chains trailing along the dusty floor. The sound sent shivers up her spine again.

"Look, there is an incline down to the river below but we're going to have to find a less risky way than the drop off at the overlook!" Clementine said urgently.

"Fine, fine! Take us to the ridge and we'll move along it until we find a safe enough spot! Go!" Lilly said, almost pushing the two of them forward with the butt of her gun.

Another smashed glass and the resulting heat on the back of Clementines neck set them all running as quickly as possible. With Vioet taking the lead while Clementine brought up the rear, making sure AJ would never fall behind. She slipped his own back pack off him awkwardly as they moved to allow him more speed.

She had been throwing it over her own shoulder as they hit the ridge and darted right all in one movement, the combined turn and uneven ground had her foot hit a protuding piece of rock, sending her to the floor, scrawping the skin up her fore arms and causing her to gasp.

Everybody else carried on, unknowing her plight. All except Louis who stopped, and shot a hesitant look at the advancing shadows of their hunters now visible. 

One of them bellowed out excitedly "Holy shit, boys! We found them!" Louis laid his hesitation to rest and threw himself to Clementines side just as a bullet fired through the space between their bodies.

"For fuck sake, Kitch! What did we say about gunning down the girls!?" Another voice roared in reaction to the trigger pull.

"I'm not trying to hit the girl!" Kitch argued back. This moments distraction allowed Clementine the few seconds she needed to regain her feet and pull Louis off in the opposite direction to where the rest of their companions had disappeared to.

She raced further and further away as the two, maybe more, gave chase, cursing that they may evade them once again. Clementine then span around and crouched behind a tree as close to the edge of the ridge as possible. The back of her heel literally hunt over the edge as she motioned for Louis to do the same.

He widened his eyes, clearly peturbed by the ask but more talk forced him to join her behind the thick trunk, side on and face to face so it could properly conceal them. "What the fuck are we doing Clementine!?" He whispered.

She reacted by giving one quick shake of her head and pressing a finger to her lips. Thankfully he gave her what she wanted and they both took to listening to the footsteps of the two males.

"Fucking great! Now they're gone. Tuerto's gonna fuck you up for sure." Kitch said, ominously. The other man reacted passively.

"He'll fuck you up if he knows you call him that behind his back. Besides, we've got a pretty good idea where they're going. He knows they're worth the time." This voice had a thick Mexican accent, although in the next few seconds Clementine would make sure he had no accent at all.

Though without her shotgun she knew she would need the element of surprise to take him down before he knew what was happening.

"He's getting a bit bored of the others though, and so am I to be fucking honest. I miss the fight, you know?" Kitch said. 

Clementine inched silently so she could see around the tree, feeling the sun creeping up her back as it began to rise over the jagged mountain tops. She hoped the two men were enjoying their last sunrise.

One was much bigger than the other, barrel chested and bearded, he looked like a lumberjack on steroids. The other was half his size and much closer to Clementines ability to overpower a person.

They turned away to head back to join the others they had clearly splintered off from. The smaller one had put his head through the strap on his weapon and it rested on his back. Bad move.

Clementine shot a look at a terrified Louis, and she thought he might stay rooted to the spot much like the tree shielding them when she rushed out, launching herself onto the Mexican mans back.

He let out a cry of surprise and then pain as Clementines admittedly light weight sent his face into the dirt, she couldn't be sure over the noise but it sounded like a bone broke as it did so. She had no time to worry about what Kitch was doing and could only hope Louis had followed her with Chairles to take him out.

On top of the man she first grabbed the gun and unhooked it from the strap, bashing him hard in the back of his thick matted hair. Lacking the time to properly reload it she threw it away and grabbing the strap at both ends she pulled back with all of her weight so it began to crush the mans windpipe. He coughed and spluttered, reaching behind him and smacking her thigh feebly as she squeezed the life from him.

She was unable to stop herself chancing a look to Kitch and how Louis was dealing with him. Kitch loomed his great shadow over her and was about to grab her around the neck when a quick whistle of Chairles being swung at speed ended with Kitch instead howling in agony and reaching for his own shoulder.

Clementine willed Louis to connect again when a couple of sharp pains in her thigh snapped her back to the murder at hand, the man on the floor had managed to find a blade from inside its sheath on the side of his jeans and was jabbing it frantically as his breath shallowed with each passing second.

Clementine could do nothing but take the hits, the warmth of blood running from each slit made in her upper thigh, hoping she could wrestle his life away before she lost the will.

She wrapped the strap once around her wrists and ragged it back so sharply that the man immediately dropped the blade and ceased flailing. Clementine had snapped his neck. But she daren't stop until she knew for sure.

In fact the only thing that did was seeing Kitch get the upper hand on Louis. He was bleeding profusely from the wounds Chairles nails had caused but he had wrestled possession of it, causing Louis to dance out of the swings Kitch was now taking.

"You little bastard!" He roared. "When I've knocked your head off your shoulders I'm gonna hit a homer with it!" He swung again and missed Louis by inches, who noticed Clementine hobble up and slowly make her way over to help, the blade used against her now in her hand.

"Not with form like that, you fucking ape!" Louis taunted back. Clementine wondered if he knew just how close he was to slipping off the ridge, dancing about like a matador beckoning a bull to the red flag that was the drop to certain death.

Kitch looked stupid but Clementine doubted he was so much so that he could be tricked into being launched over the ridges edge. 

His huge frame blacked out the sun as it continued to rise and Clementine drew closer, the pain in her leg making it feel like she was still being penetrated by the blade over and over.

"But first, I'm gonna make you watch that fine little black bitch take every inch of me. Where is she anyway?" Kitch said, just as Clementine reached his back.

"Right here, you piece of shit." She said loudly. Before Kitch had chance to turn around she dropped to her knees and drove the bloodied blade up the middle of his legs, puncturing the organ between it. He wouldn't be making threats like that again anytime soon.

Louis ooffed as he cringed, the would-be rapist slamming to his knees and crying out in pain holding his crotch.

Clementine panicked then that his noise would draw the rest of the hunters who she hoped still hadn't moved away from their bonfire. So Louis finished off a now helpless man, sticking his boot in, literally.

It only took one roll for Kitch's howl of injury and terror to rapidly shrink into a barely audible echo as he fell off the edge, hundreds of metres to the end of his mortal coil.

They didn't hear him hit the ground, but knew that even if he'd somehow hit a ledge to break his fall it would have done the same to his back, rendering him alone, bleeding out, and disabled.

Louis filled his lungs and let the air go, bending over with his hands on his knees. "Well there's a first time for everything." He said, coming to terms with the act.

"Let's hope you don't have to get used to it." Clementine said, falling onto her backside and putting pressure on the five or six perforations in her leg.

"Have you had to?" He asked, not knowing how bad of a state she was in.

"No. That- that guy was the second. The first I actually meant to though." She said, inspecting the wounds.

"How did you kill someone without meaning to?" Louis asked, trying to keep his mind off the one he'd just taken.

"Another story, another time." She said, unwilling to indulge his ask that very moment. She was too busy wondering how they were going to catch up to the others on only one leg.

Louis seemed to read her mind as he stood back up fully. "You think they're waiting for us?"

"I hope not. We can't go back past that way, we could run into the rest of these assholes. We need to keep going this way and get across the river. Hopefully we'll meet up with our people on the other side." Clementine replied with the best plan she had to offer.

"That's a long shot in this place Clementine. And it's not like we have the map to follow like they do." Louis said, helping her to her feet.

"I know that. But there's nothing else we can do. If we run into the rest of those animals we'll stand no chance. And you heard what they said, they know exactly where we were headed so we have to cross over and warn the rest." She explained.

Clementines ears pricked up as more voices came into earshot. "Where the fuck have those two idiots gone now?" One shouted. The replies were negative, prompting assertive orders.

"Well find 'em and let's get going! I know we've had to have just missed them. Left so fast all their shits still here!" The man shouted. Clementine could see at least ten figures in the vicinity of him as she watched them disperse, knowing she and Louis did not have much time to elude them again...

"We have to go, right now!" Clementine exclaimed. Louis nodded and took the lead with Clementine trying to walk and keep pressure on her still seeping injuries. They heard the man call out again to his similarly sick minded mercenaries.

"Remember, there's no use huntin' if you don't catch any game!"


	23. A Saving Grace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wanted this chapter to be longer but work is getting in the way so the next one will be a much longer and bigger part as a result when I have the time.
> 
> Hope you are still enjoying!

*

It had indeed been a long shot. With hundreds if not thousands of acres of land around them it would be a miracle to run into the group again. 

Maybe Clementine should have listened to Louis. But then their hands were being forced this way by the trailing hunters behind them. 

And that was only solace in her separation from Violet and AJ. The party must have discovered their members dead bodies and followed the drops of fresh blood from Clementines wound because she heard them calling threats out across the river as she pulled herself up onto the dirt on the otherside.

At least she assumed they were threats. The shouting from multiple of their number had been inaudible and their animated figures unreadable. Louis helped her to the treeline and out of any view finders they might have been in possession of.

He then ditched his completely drenched coat, throwing it to the ground. "What the fuck is with these people?" He cursed, observing their tiny figures across the water.

"Nothing good." Clementine answered, slowly bending her knee to get the feeling back in her now numbed joints. She winced as she did so.

"You sure you can carry on?" He asked, concerned for her wellbeing. She nodded as the first of the hunting party stepped off the ground and into the river in pursuit.

"I'm going to have to." She said, standing up and pointing to the advancing men.

"Mother of god, these guys don't quit. What the hell do they want?"

"I think they want to put every inch of it in me." Clementine said, echoing the sickening threat of Kitch before she made him sorry he ever uttered it.

"Oh shit." Louis shuddered.

"Don't worry, you'll go quick." Clementine replied in a rather unsavoury act of humour considering their predicament.

"That's cold." Louis replied. Following Clementine deeper into the forest. There was no way they could head in the direction she rest had gone now they had successfully steered the Hunting Party clear.

They travelled a vast distance together, weaving through even greater tree covered land, once in a while coming out onto a lonely winding road that following along could present them with the possibilty of reaching a town.

But they would deny themselves this. They couldn't stay out of the cover they were being afforded. Clementine would easily be taken down with the speed currently lacking. Her leg was ailing her so much she wondered if it would ever return to working order again.

It finally gave out from under her as they crossed into a town called Mabie. Clementine lay flat on the concrete sidewalk with pins and needles running the length of her leg.

Thankfully their trackers were nowhere to be seen for the time being and Clementine leg had stopped creating blood spots a good ten miles back. Still, the frustration didn't stop a tear forcing its way down the side of her face.

Wondering where AJ and Violet were, hoping they had remained safe. She just wished she could lay the fears they must have to rest. She was alive.

She kicked herself for not spending every waking second with the two of them while she'd had the chance. Giving it a miss in favour of immature battles of wills with Minerva. The separation had given her the resolve she needed, the wake up call to always be there.

But now it was too late. They had nothing to go on. They would always keep moving, searching. Hoping to find The Greenbrier and their family safe and sound inside it one day.

Clementine tried to take her mind off it as Louis paced silently, never relaxed since the attack, knowing more could follow at any time.

"Hey. What facts do you think Lilly would have about Mabie?" She asked, hoping to  train his mind elsewhere for a moment. He stopped and gave it a second.

"Mabie she wouldn't have any." He joked, giving Clementines dark weight the alleviation she needed. Her smile sent another couple of tears slipping off her cheeks causing her to rub her eyes before sitting up.

"Can you have a look in AJ's bag for me? I really need something for my leg." She asked of him. He removed it from over his shoulders after having taken it from Clementine some way back to ease her movement.

"There's not much in here Clem, no painkillers or anything like that. A few bandages you can use to wrap up your thighs but otherwise its just clothing, crayons and drawings." He said, pulling out said bandages.

"Can you pass me the drawings?" Clementine asked, needing to be as close as she could to AJ however pitiful her request seemed. Louis didn't bat an eyelid however as he brought them over to her.

Without words she pulled her jeans down  to her knees and laid back on the hard concrete so Louis was able wrap up her wounds, hopefully keeping them from getting septic. 

Better late than never she thought as she held the pictures up above her head and looked through them. Biting her lip as she felt Louis press a length of bandage around her upper thigh and begin to wind it round and round gently.

AJs pictures were various in nature. He had gotten really good at drawing their group of survivors, no longer needing to caption their names above each of them for Clementine to know who was who.

The animals he had copied from memory of pictures in books he had read were a lot less refined. Clementine would have a hard job differentiating between a llama and a giraffe if AJ had been behind the pen. She laughed, but only because she would cry otherwise.

Then she came to another picture. This one neither of humans nor animals. It had strange lines moving in different directions, in different colours. Some of the page had been left white while other parts had been scribbled in thick green patches.

And then her heart jumped at seeing his immature scribble of the words 'The Greenbrier'

It was a hand drawn copy of Lillys map. She gasped at the utter odds of luck they had just been afforded. Sitting up like a shot causing Louis to abort his efforts to tend her leg. "Hey, I'm not done."

"Louis. We can find them!" She said excitedly. Still in awe at the chances of AJ having the forethought to copy the map. He looked confused, and she was able to fill in the blanks.

"Look! AJ made a copy of the map!" She thrust it into his face widly and he took it to confirm her statement.

"God damn. The tot did good!" He said, beaming back at Clementine. "I mean its hardly a work of art but we should be able to make sense of it between us for sure." He added. "That's got to be some sort of sign right?"

"If I believed in them, yes! I'd only just taken the bag off his back when I fell over, Louis. If I hadn't- we'd have never found our way back to them." She informed.

"Oh I don't know about never. Mabie, perhaps." Louis started, a smirk forming on his exhausted face. He looked how Clementine had felt prior the injection of adrenaline and renewed hope AJs drawing had given her.

Better than any drug she could have taken in that moment. She gave his repeated joke a smile and allowed him to get back into position and finish wrapping up her leg.

"Thank you, Louis." She said.

"No problem, Clementine." He replied, not knowing she meant it for much more than covering up her wound. 

But his continued levity in sticky situations. For not coming onto her, even though she knew from the card game way back when that he liked her, at least on a superficial level. For moments like this, where she could sit with her pants down and not worry that he would try to take advantage of that. 

Something that prevented Clementine from putting Minerva on the same pedestal as she had Louis' friendship.

"So it looks like we're not far from Monongahela Forest."

"I'm so done with forests." Louis said, dramatically. Clementine agreed.

"So am I. But unfortunately The Greenbrier is right in the middle of it. And we've got to go through to get there. We need the cover anyway." She added, remembering to look back where they came for signs of their purseurs.

In doing so she did see something, but it was too far away to tell if it was a small clamor of Walkers or the Hunting Party. Either way she didn't want to wait to find out. She pulled her jeans back up and held her arms out for Louis to pull her to a standing position.

Light was on the wane again at this point but she couldn't stop and rest her eyes. She wouldn't be able to sleep until Violet and AJ were back in front of her. 

Louis knew this and pretended to batter up with Chairles as a few walkers lumbered their way toward his direction. Clementine had no weapon to speak of having left her shotgun behind and the blade lodged in Kitchs testicles.

"Can you take them?" She asked.

"It'll take more than this sorry lot to trouble me, Clem." He replied in his black vest top, his arms surprisingly muscled considering she had never seen him lift more than the bat currently connecting with a walkers jaw.

It swung and around due to the kinetic energy and fell to the floor as Louis taunted the other two, taking them away from a somewhat sidelined Clementine. Still she found herself having to defend herself as the fallen walker started to drag itself toward her.

She extended her uninjured leg lazily, using the boot on her foot to keep the nearly toothless walker busy as it gnawed at the end, causing no damage. Clementine watched its primal and vacant expression, trying for a moment uselessly to find something more behind its eyes. But there was nothing.

Nothing but the need to feed and by extension, destroy. She waited for Louis to finish off the other two before he ran over thinking Clem was in imminent danger. However she remained cavalier as he bashed the already blood stained baseball bat repeatedly into its cranium.

She stood up then, wincing a little. Looking again behind her she could see the number of advancing figures had grown with stragglers behind the lead group, four bodies walking next to each other, they looked to be holding hands from the distance.

"We better go. If we can see them they'll see us before long." Clementine said, wishing that she had the fire power to just end the stupid cat and mouse game in that instant....


	24. Convergence.

*

Clementine took care as she traversed the marshy ground underfoot. The grave stones all around her were weathered to a degree that the names etched on them had long since become indecipherable.

"Do you think all these people woke up in their coffins when all this started? Like the dead do now?" Louis asked, from a few steps ahead, his boots caked in dirt.

It was a thought that had never occured to Clementine, though one that now made choosing to travel through a grave yard that much more erie. 

An image of a skeletal hand breaking through the earth to pull her beneath by the ankles flashed over her brain, but she waved it away nonchalantly until it was sufficiently buried.

It was getting harder over the last year or two with ever shortening returns for her to recall the sensation an attack from walkers had on her heart. 

The close call inside the Goodwill had put the fear of god up her at the time, but only a few days later and she found it had already fallen away to the recesses of her memory, like all the rest.

"I don't think so. I mean, most if not all of them will have been a pile of bones when this went down. Maybe a few..." She replied.

"I bet it didn't stop some crazy from digging up their kid though, with some warped sense of hoping" Louis mused without a hint of awareness at the morbidness his words had.

To most it wouldn't bear thinking about, but this was the world they lived in now. Death was a mainstay in their daily life and as such, macabre discussions about what happens after were commonplace for those that had known not much else.

Still, that thought had Clementine scratching her neck involuntarily, dead kids made her stomach churn more violently now that she had one of her own to keep from such a fate.

"This is the kind of talk that landed you in Ericson, isn't it." She said, sarcastically.

He didn't return an answer immediately and Clementine watched his back, his sleeveless arms no doubt tensed to ward against the temperature drop they were currently experiencing.

"Sorry..." She added, sensing that she had hit a nerve. "I shouldn't joke about that kind of thing. There's just no obvious reason to me why you were there... you come across uhh, balanced?"

"No, it's okay." Louis replied finally. "It just made me think... My Dad wanted to send me to the academy. But, I was too young. So Ericson was the compromise."

Clementine saw him shrug his shoulders, and was unsure whether she should press for more.

"Compromise?" She repeated, deciding to chip away at his past. He turned around to face her but continued to walk backwards on his heels.

"The official reason is I had problems interacting with others. On a social level. But, as you can probably tell, that has never been an issue for me." He started, throwing out his arms as if to say one could tell by simply looking.

"The real reason is my Dad was a homophobic dick and wanted to straighten me out. Literally."

"But... you're not gay... are you?" Clementine asked, suddenly doubting herself.

"Not even close, honestly. But even at seven I was a pretty fashionable little guy! That coupled with my desire to make a ballad to end all ballads and you can see where the stereotypes cemented my apparent sexuality in his eyes." Louis said, making a show of rolling his eyes.

"That's ridiculous. Your mom put up with that?" Clementine asked, incredulously. Louis sighed before replying.

"My mom put up with a lot. She... wasn't the strongest personality. Dad was an army guy." Louis said, his mind surely drifting to his parents.

Clementine surmised that his residence at Ericson when she arrived meant he hadn't been able to reunite with them after things went to hell. She only hoped he would never have to find them as she'd done her own.

"Okay. So he sends you to Ericson to stop you playing music and straighten you out. Ericson.. a place that ends up having a giant ass piano and a couple of homosexuals that would only excerbate your supposed gayness..." 

This observation made Louis laugh, and he nodded. "I guess Dad didn't exactly do his research when my Mom suggested Ericson. I like to think she knew exactly where she was sending me."

"That would be pretty bad ass of her" Clementine said, smiling with admiration for a woman whos choice could have indeed simply been coincidential. 

Yet she found herself choosing to believe Louis' line of thinking anyway. It certainly gave him some sense of solace. And she would never begrudge that.

Clementine withdrew AJ's map and spent a few minutes stationary in order to decipher it. There wasn't a great deal of detail to go on but she had worked with what she had thus far and it had gotten them into Monongahela National Forest.

She tapped her finger on their next milestone and spoke up without taking her eyes off the page. "Highway 250 goes all the way through, if we keep to it we should cross the path the rest are taking and then we can line up with their road to The Greenbrier."

"You're the Captain." Louis said simply, waiting on her return to movement. Clem could feel the damp through the bandage wrapped around her thigh, it needed changing. 

However they had already given up distance between them and the Hunting Party and she couldn't allow them to get within range of Louis. 

Sure, she would almost certainly be subjected to some kind of hell she would never recover from mentally, if not physically, but she could count on being alive going on the bits she'd gathered about their group. 

'Don't shoot the girls' Kitch had been warned. No such order about the boys. Louis would be of no use to them.

"Are they still behind us?" Clementine asked as she limped gingerly toward a Louis still facing her. He looked over her shoulder to find an answer.

"I can't see them. But it's getting hard to." Louis replied, referencing a descending fog trying its best to block out an already sinking sun. "Maybe we should stop?" He asked, though he had to know he was wasting his breath.

Clementine reinforced it with a look that said that wouldn't be happening. 

"We can't. They're either still behind us, or they've decided to bank on where they think they know we're going. If we don't find the rest of our group before they get there, my life won't be worth living." She finished, thinking of her kin.

"I know. You're right, sorry. I just can't remember the last time I closed my eyes outside of blinking." Louis said, turning away and marching on.

"We're a day away from The Greenbrier. If we make it and its still standing, you might never have to worry about when you can do that again." Clementine said, empathising with his fatigue.

Though she did feel some warped sense of justice that this trip had surely proved to Louis that his ignorant statement of 'it's not that bad out here' was definitely ill-informed. Though he had just lost his best friend so she could give him the benefit of the doubt with hindsight. 

The two were almost on the perimiter of the graveyard when a line of questioning occured to Clementine.

"Do you think she was real? The girl at the hospital?" She clarified, wondering. It was the start of a chain reaction of events that had lead to much of their detour after all.

"Shit. I'd almost forgot about that. Maybe? I don't see how not, unless I had some sort of mental break. I don't feel crazy." Louis said.

"Crazy doesn't know crazy. It's all sane to them. You're the crazy one for not believing them." Clementine replied astutely. "But like I said, you're pretty balanced to me."

"So that leaves only one possibility, she was real. And I ran away like a pussy, leaving her in there." Louis said, making his decisions out to be much more callous than they were.

"You were being chased by a shit ton of walkers. I think you can forgive yourself for that, Louis." She said sternly, reaching out and putting a hand on his shoulder. 

He turned and showed her a smile in thanks, though his next sentence carried on the deprication. "She could have been patient zero." He said.

"Patient Zero?" Clementine asked for confirmation.

"Yeah, like everything has a beginning. A starting point. This all kicked off with one person turning, and it'll all end with one person not turning." Louis said informatively. 

Clementine understood, she was just unsure where he was going with it.

"Go on..."

"Well that girl was in there with all of those walkers. How'd she survive?" He pressed, though Clementine found his question to have more than a few easy solutions.

"She could have easily shut herself out of their reach. I mean, she was crying. Maybe it was because she was trapped."

"She was trapped. The door was barred shut, Clem. From the outside. Someone put her in there with those things, I doubt they'd have given her a place to hide." He replied, he'd had that rebuff ready to go.

"Okay. So?"

"So? Where's your sense of wonder, Clem?" Louis said with mock impatience.

"I have a sense of wonder. I'm wondering when you're going to get to the point right now." She said acidly, though the conversation was admittedly a lot more creative than she'd gotten used to.

"Don't you think about the end of this? I mean, it just happened out of nowhere. And as far as I can tell nobody has found out why. Who's to say it doesn't stop the same way? Somebody gets bit, and nothing happens. Patient Zero." He explained, coming up to walking parallel with the highway.

"And you think that girl was patient zero-" Clementine asked of the absurdity but Louis cut her off.

"I'm just saying it was a possibility, Clem. As much as its possible that an alien ship falls from the sky and crushes me as it lands. Highly improbable, but possible." He said, though Clementine thought even 'highly improbable' was too generous.

"I guess we'll never know. I try not to look too far ahead anyway. I'm here now and so are the dead. I'm motivated by the present danger, you know?" Clementine said, not needing to elaborate.

"Oh I hear you. Nobody's going to live their days on that prayer. I get that. I guess it's a silly thought anyway. Like I said, highly improbable." He tailed off, looking a little forlorn.

"But possible." Clementine tacked on, feeling bad for puncturing his optimism that this one day too would pass. It seemed to work fleetingly before they went back to silence.

They followed highway two fifty closely from the treeline whenever possible. Never taking the actual cracked concrete which would have admittedly made Clementines travelling easier.

The forest floor dipped and rose intermittently without notice when she really needed a steady surface to walk along. However she kept her discomfort to herself, they would have worse problems before long.

They did at one point stray from their path, still heading in the desired direction, just at an angle that took them maybe half an hour away from the highway, more for a change of scenery than anything else.

Louis had seen something at a distance over the arrowhead tree tops and wanted to investigate. Though he left Clementine facepalming when they reached a wide clearing.

She caught him sniggering uncontrollably at the sign welcoming them, it read 'Bartons Knob' and his immature side got the better of him as a result. Though he dropped it at her disapproval.

Clementine leaned against a towering tree on her good leg and looked up at the structure that had drawn them temporarily off course.

It reminded her of the water tower but taller, and also much more dilapidated too. It's stairs wound around to the summit but they were missing many steps on the way up.

In fact Clementine wondered whether a good pull on the base of it would see them throwing themselves out of the way as it tipped on its side, such was the ricket like view it gave to the world.

"It says here its a condemned Fire Tower." Louis said, running her finger along the words on the sign by its side. "Should we climb it?"

Clementine crossed her arms. "You just said it was condemned. Didn't you have enough of climbing up and down the water tower? Because I sure did."

"But this is a fire tower! Come on, it would be kind of poetic." He said, suddenly energetic at the prospect and moving over to stand his foot on the lowest rung of the tower.

"I don't think once living in a water tower and now climbing a fire tower makes for poetry. And honestly, I'm starting to think I'm going to die falling from a great height. Like I spend more time in the air than on the ground." She said, though she knew not every experience had been negative.

"I'm climbing. And I want you to follow me, Nancy." Louis said with finality. She raised her eyebrows at being adressed incorrectly but he had already started his ascent. 

She watched him without moving as he missed out all the steps that had fallen through until he reached its summit. He shouted down to her when he noticed she hadn't followed his orders.

"Come on! Indulge me! Please?" Clem sighed. She did owe him one after everything he'd done for her since their separation from the others.

Again she didn't answer as she made her way over, beginning to climb with as little irritation to her thigh as possible. Though this was unavoidable with having to skip the missing steps on the way.

She used the railings as she ascended all the way to the summit, reaching a beaming Louis standing inside a lookout point that couldn't have been more than one square foot in size.

"Nancy?" Clementine repeated finally. 

Louis smiled at her unenlightenment as he held out an arm to pull her up the last couple of steps. "Negative Nancy." He clarified.

Clementine was offended at this notion. "I'm not negative!" She said, defending her name.

"Could have fooled me!" He said, sitting down at the edge and beckoning her to do the same.

"I'm up here aren't I."

"True. But you're not exactly enjoying the moment. Look around! You can see for miles up here. I'd say we're definitely higher up than we were in the tower." He mused after the insult, though it wasn't unfounded.

"I've got things on my mind, Louis. My leg looks like a sieve, we're being followed by a bunch of sickos, and I don't know where my boy is. Or my girlfiend. And I might never see them again. We can't all be perpetually problem free." She snapped.

"You think me always joking around means I don't have problems? That's a pretty ignorant statement Clem." He replied, his levity slipping. Clementine immediately felt regret.

"I'm sorry. This is all just pissing me off. I know it's not all plain sailing for you either, Louis. Losing Marlon and Aasim especially." She said, but he waved it away, replying with slight aggravation.

"It's not just them, Clem! I'm close to everyone else left from Ericson too. Minnie and Sophie, Tenn! Hell, she's your girlfriend but you're not the only one who cares about Violet. We snipe each other sometimes but I've known her longer than this thing!" He said, referring to the outbreak.

"How many people are left that can say they still run with someone they knew before the apocalypse?" He said, making his point forcefully.

"Not me." Clementine replied, crestfallen. Thankfully Louis noted this and halted his defensiveness. It was a few moments of reflection before she apologised.

"Look, I'm sorry. I actually never knew you and her had been at Ericson for that long." Clementine said, remorseful.

"Yeah, I've actually known her for as long as I'd known Marlon. We just took longer to click with each other. See she found me too loud and obnoxious and I thought she was anti-social." He wasn't wrong on either count, Clementine thought.

"But when we did get to talking, we found a little common ground. Through my love for music and her love for the stars- she would always disappear up there alone after we thought Minnie had died." Louis said of the bell tower.

"She regressed into herself at that point - more than usual. You actually managed to bring her back from that." He finished, appreciatively.

"We had our first kiss on that bell tower." Clementine said remeniscing in the touch of her lips, and the charge that had coarsed through her as a result.

"No shit? So back when you said you'd never had a boyfriend, it was because you were into girls- obviously." He added, knowing Clementines allegiance to Violets love.

"I'd never had anything. It was our first kiss but it was also my first." Clementine said, rubbing lightly on her knuckles as she opened up.

"Ohh. Okay. So, who initiated?" Louis said, prying for the gory details. Clem blushed a little at the question.

"I did... I could tell she wanted to though. I think she'd been working her way up to it from the second she got me up there." Clementine replied, trying to surpress a smile at Violets conversation attempts.

"What made you go for it though?

"I just felt it. Up there, alone with her. I was able to experience something between us that I think others had felt for me before but I wasn't able to- to reciprocate..." Clementine explained, thinking specifically of Javi's nephew, Gabe.

She left it there, realising Louis could well have been another whos feelings were left unrequited. His change of subject could have been indication of this.

"Hey, maybe we can use this place to spot the others?" He suggested, it was a long shot, and with the night falling they had a small window of opportunity because Clementine would not allow an overnight stay.

"That's going to be near on impossible, Louis. We're not going to know if it's them even if we do spot people." She said, remembering how much of a risk she had taken after seeing the distant silhouettes of Omid and Christa, and how they could have turned out to be walkers, or worse.

"It's worth a shot." He said, standing and scouring the land anyway. "You can see a lot of the highway from here."

Clementine didn't doubt that, but she also knew that it was unlikely their group would be moving so out in the open like that, especially if Lilly was still leading their charge.

She stood up to and faced the opposite direction, surveying the highway for any sign of The Hunting Party. At first she saw nothing looking back on the path they had taken before hitting a diagonal stride.

But in letting her gaze drift slowly along past their own present point she was first surprised to find a small gathering covering ground ahead. Then she felt panicked. 

It was extremely hard to make certain from the distance but what she could make out was the same formation they moved in. The four figures she had noticed trailing behind the lead pack back in Mabie held their shape.

It had to be them. They had picked up pace on their trajectory and passed both Louis and Clementine. In fact they were moving so quick that Clem doubted she wouldn't have been caught by them if they hadn't veered off and subsequently stopped.

Then came even worse news.

"Hey, I think I might have spotted them." Louis said, squinting off toward another patch of the highway as it wound around gradually. Clementine answered, failing to properly realise who he meant.

"Yeah, and they've already passed us. We need to get down and head them off so we can get out in front again." She spoke, making a move to descend the frame of the tower.

"Wait, what? Get out in front of who?" Louis said, taking his eyes away from the line of view he had been studying. Clem replied impatiently.

"The Hunting Party. They're at least a couple hundred feet in front now because we stopped! So we need to head them off!"

Louis looked perplexed for a moment before he set the record straight. "Uh, I'm not talking about them. I mean us! Our group. They're heading toward that bridge over there." He said, pointing.

Clementine had never moved so fast as she jumped back up like a shot from the start of her climb down to join him. She set her head right next to his shoulder so she could see the exact point he was trying to direct her to see.

She saw a band of bodies, more like pin pricks to her, sloth like in their speed, trapesing toward a bridge that lay before them. It was even hard to make out how many of them there were.

She felt disappointed at Louis pre emptive call. "There's no way you can say that's them!" Louis tutted at her doubt condescendingly.

"Sure I can! There's seven of them-" He started, but Clementine didn't have time for his vague assumptions based off such shaky information.

"That's not enough, Louis. You can't see a body count and say its our people." She said, though she realised her hypocrisy at just having assumed the identity of others based on practically the same information. At least they had a formation.

"If you let me finish.... I can also tell that one at the back is Violet. That is definitely her gait. She walks like a dude. In cement. Carrying bricks on her shoulders." He said, insultingly.

Clementine strained to see if he was correct in his confidence, but he must have had much better eyesight than she possessed because she could not tell either way.

"I don't know..." She said, finally. But Louis reasserted his assured stance on the matter.

"Well I do. Trust me, I've seen that walk for the better part of a decade. Towards me to punch my lights out, and away once she'd given up trying to. That is Violet. I'd bet on it." He said, holding his hand up like he was willing to swear on a bible.

She still wasn't sure, but they couldn't take the chance that it wasn't them either. Not when they and the Hunting Party were so close to colliding with each other.

"Improbable but possible." She said aloud, climbing down the steps without another word.

"That's the spirit!" Louis shouted triumphantly at the top of his lungs, causing his voice to echo around the surrounding area.

Clementine had hit the ground running, or rather limping at speed. Louis hadn't yet reached the bottom of the fire tower as she left him behind but she knew he would catch up. Her heart skipped with each step, both at the prospect of seeing AJ and Violet again after feeling hope was futile, and that The Hunting Party might get there first.

A lump formed in her throat by the same token, which she did not need when trying to overtake her potential captors. She did for a split second entertain the idea of trying to surprise them when she caught up, to hold them back. But she would screw herself and Louis this way. 

They would never win, only delay the inevitable enslavement.

Between the trees she saw a few walkers dotted ahead, but with no time and no weapon to speak of she found herself relying on Louis to take them out as he overtook her just in time.

Some of his swings were so close that the blood splatter from his hits sprayed Clementines way, though she at least had the wherewithal to turn away so it pebble dashed only the back of her hair and hat.

Clementine didn't stop however, even with the pain flaring up again on her thigh and even in the knee joint she had aggravated back in Uniontown. It was a small price to pay to see them again.

To hug them, and kiss her. And to make promises she had every intention of keeping, until she couldn't.

They darted out of the tree line at the same time, Clementine with such speed that she toppled over and had to take a sweaty hand from Louis to help her back up. Her thoughts and actions refused to synchronise as she stood rooted, trying to process what to do and where to look.

She made her choice she looked back and saw confirmation that they had got back into a leading position as The Hunting Party came into view. Which meant she too was in theirs.

Clementine heard them whoop and holler as they clocked her. In their sights once more. She whipped her head to the other direction as Louis panted at her side, trying to get his breath back, the heat rising visibly off his shoulders as it collided with the cold.

Then she felt a flood begin at the bridge of her nose much like when she had felt when the anniversary of Lees death had become known to her. Except this was elation. It wasn't love lost causing it this time. It was love found.

They must have been too far ahead to hear the Hunting Party clamouring loudly behind them as they didn't turn around to indicate this. They just kept moving.

Until Clementine shouted out from her position. Louder and more desperately than she had done in a long, long time. She couldn't lose sight of them ever again.

"AJ!! VIOLET!!"

She waited as two of the number slowed to a stop, she called out again as she figured they were mistrusting the miracle their ears were experiencing.

"AJ!! VIOLET!!"

She shouted, her lip trembling she tried to hold back the tears. They turned together at the second time of asking. It was them. 

Violets deep echo bounded back.

"CLEMENTINE!??"

And soon they would know it was her...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Clementine's story will continue in the final five chapters of this season. I hope those who have made it this far enjoy the end I have in store! :)


	25. Homecoming.

* WARNING. SHIT IS HARDCORE IN THIS CHAPTER AND THE NEXT. If sensitive subjects graphically depicted are too much for you as a reader, then please, think twice.

*

The floodgates opened for all three as they collided into each others arms, clutching each other like their survival depended on it.

She breathed them in and her mind cleared immediately. Cleansed of all the anxiety and fear she had been unable to keep from conjouring up in their absence.

But they were together now, and those fears would never come to pass, nobody would breach her defenses. She would die first. And she might have to.

There was a flurry of disturbance around her but the pure comfort she felt in the touch and smell of Violet and AJ had essentially shut down her other senses and she heard nothing but muffled voices from the others.

Just a few more minutes Clementine thought. She needed this. It was healing her soul after being torn at, and judging by Violets unwavering hold around her she needed it too.

But the others didn't comply with her internal monologue. They were being pulled apart against their will, and Clementine clung for dear life as the voices came back into focus as much as she wished they hadn't.

"Look, this is very fucking endearing but we have to move now! Or soon one of you will be hugging a corpse!" Came Lilly's aggressive tone. You could always count on her to keep her head in the game.

Clementine knew she was right as the loud rumble of voices from behind her grew with every second, still she found herself fighting the rough pull on her shoulders, only opening her eyes when they succeeded in prying the three of them apart.

Violets over flowed, tears still spilling down her cheeks at being reunited with Clementine, who kept eye contact as long as she was able while being shook by Ryan to come back to the periless situation they found themselves still in.

"Clementine! Lissten to Lilly! We have to go now, you can half thiss later!" She heard her say, though she did not leave her stare anywhere but on Violet.

She had so many questions, and so many to answer no doubt. She wished she could suspend time where it stood, forever if need be. Clementine needed Violet to feel how deeply her soul burned with nothing but passion for her.

However for now, she would just have to settle for an 'I Love You' which Clem mouthed silently, not trusting her voice to hold long enough to express it out loud. 

She waited for Violet to return the gesture before truly snapping back to the nightmare. "They are right on top of us!" Lilly said, breath escaping from her mouth and dissipating in the frosty air.

"And I don't have the bullets!" She added, urgency in every word. Clementine didnt dare look behind her as flight mode started to take over, as it did in everybody else. 

AJ, who had been able to cling to Clementine at the waist after she and Violet had been pulled apart finally let go enough for Clementine to instead take his hand in her own and set them both following the rest onto the bridge.

She could hear the ruckus behind her as The Hunting Party had surely taken to a run themselves and she had to wonder how far they would be able to get before they were taken down.

Not far it turned out to her horror as she caught up with everyone half way across the bridge, suspended high above a wide river running below. 

They had stopped almost as instantly as they had started and Clementine was about to spit hell fire asking why when it became apparent, even through her teary-eyed vision.

It had caved in, leaving a gaping mouth of nothing at their feet. Clementine edged toward the brink to peer down into it expecting to see the inky black sky reflected in the surface of the vast water.

Instead she found the culprit of the hole terminating their escape. A tanker lay mangled and crippled from the fall its tonnage had caused on the bridge that had obviously long been unequipped to handle.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Minnie said, with many expletives from the rest following. "What are we going to do? They've got guns, we've got shit! Do you think we can take them!?" She asked well and truly freaking out.

It only worsened when fire started from the chambers of the Hunting Partys guns causing Sophie and the children to cower together, their backs against it and hoping nothing hit them.

Though it was immediately apparent to Clementine from the ammunition hitting and splintering only chunks of the wood that had not been caved in by the tanker, that they were not shooting to kill. The obnoxious and chill inducing laughter rang out again as Clementine this time chanced a look behind.

They were onto the bridge themselves now, twenty strong at least. Cat calling the girls and swaggering toward the group like they were simply showing up to a bar. One fired off more rounds into the air as a show of just how many bullets they had to waste.

Clementine felt like throwing up. They were defenseless and out of time. She whipped back around and scanned the faces of her crew hoping that one of them had a determination, a way out of this that she didn't. 

But she found nothing but terror and defeat on their faces. Lilly had started to slowly lift her rifle but Clementine threw herself forward and knocked it straight back down to the floor.

Clementine would not allow a meaningless sacrifice. She would get a shot off on maybe one, or two before they retaliated. They had said no shooting the women, but they wouldn't allow themselves to be felled at the expense of that order.

"What the fuck are you doing?" She spat, her rage uncontained at being cornered and having one of her own stop her from going down fighting.

"We're not dying like this. You're not, Lilly! I heard them back at the ridge, they're not going to kill us. Trust me." She said, neglecting to admit the heinous plans they did have instead.

Her instinct to survive was unparalleled, and if she thought that she would die tonight at their hands, then she would no doubt join Lilly in her suicide mission against the hunting party.

But knowing differently, and however much she would have to take; the violence, rape, the mental breakdowns, she knew there would be a time and a chance to escape. One day.

She would take it so the others didn't have to. But Clementine had virtually no time to act on the others' well being. In her frantic scrambling for a way out for AJ and Violet she pushed Lilly aside and darted about over the bridge like the caged mice she was about to become.

Then she noticed it, the outer steel framework held still completely in tact. It would be death defying to safely cross, especially at the speed that they had to in order to ensure their safety, but no other way became apparent.

It was almost crippling to have to let them go again so soon, but she would never forgive herself if she had to watch them go through the same as she was about to be subjected to. She would rather die inside a thousand times over.

"Listen! We need to get some of you out!These fuckers have no problem killing the boys so AJ, Tenn, Louis. You have to go or you're not going to last the night. I promise you that." She started, taking charge as the Hunting Party continued to idle and drag out their coming together for otimum dread in their victims.

And it was working.

"Fuck that!" Louis protested. Clementine however didn't have the patience for any kamikaze heroics from any of them, let alone someone who would have a bullet in his head within the next half hour if he stayed.

"No, fuck you, Louis! You need to go! We will live! Please. Violet, you too! Take AJ for me? I'm begging you! Get him to The Greenbrier. Hole up and keep him safe for me! We'll be back for you!" Clem pleaded, running forward and literally dragging both AJ and Violet to one side of the bridge.

Violets face was one of rage and of unwillingness to leave Clementine behind, but when their eyes met again and were studied in that fraction of a moment, she relented to Clementines wishes, but she knew it was only for the sake of protecting AJ.

Clementine needed them together, for better or worse. And across the bridge was the better.

AJ appeared to actually be in a state of shock. He had had enough run ins with packs of zombies, but never his own kind. In the loosest sense of the word them being the animals they were.

Clem threw AJs backpack to Violets chest and shielded them at the edge of the huge metal framing. "AJ has a copy of the map in there. Now go. I'll see you both again." She said defiantly as she heard even more gunfire raining toward them.

There was no time for a real goodbye. Only the final assurances that they would meet again at The Greenbrier. It tore her apart to be ripped from AJ again as she watched him toe his way along the beams with Violet behind.

Looking past them to the other side she saw Tenn and Louis waiting. She must have missed Minnie and Sophies own imploring for him to put aside his pride and protect Tenn for them. Whatever they'd said, it had worked.

She braced herself for the degredation they were going to endure. The guilt she would feel for Sophie, a fragile soul at the best of times having to take such a cruel sentence.

She scrunched her eyes up tight as the laughter and general noise fell silent, with only Sophies whimpering now audible.

"Excuse me, miss." 

Came a drawl the thickness of which she had never had the misfortune to hear before. It was confident, and faux accomodating in its intended pleasantness.

She tensed up involuntarily and did not answer. Nor did she afford the man the courtesy of turning to face him. He cleared his throat gruffly and tried again with the same slow drag.

"I said, excuse me, Miss." 

This time Clementine opened her eyes. But for no other reason to check on AJ and Violets progress. They were no longer visible to her. She hoped they had not ended up in the river below.

She continued to play deaf however, trying to give them more time and more distance. They weren't clear yet.

"Well, now you're just being rude little lady." The man continued. Clementine balled her fists ready to start a tirade against the monster but a loud cracking sound made her jump and do as he asked, finding the source of the sound.

Minnie was on the ground clutching her face, it scrunched up in pain with the man standing in front of her and another with a gun trained on her temple.

"Now, that's better." He started, his face lighting up. "I'm tryin' to make this here thing go as smooth as possible. It would be easier on all of us, believe me. I mean, I really don't want to have to slap the shit out of y'all before I've even had the chance to find out what your kinks are."

Clementine shuddered.

"So, lets have this be the first and the last time tonight, alright?" He finished momentarily. 

Clementine still stood away, eyes flitting across their abductors number. Across their thirsty, deranged looks as they waited to be set on their prey.

The man, their leader she assumed, walked away from Minnie to stand back centre stage with thumbs in jeans. He wore a dirty unshaven stubble on his face that teetered on not quite being an out and out beard.

He was overly tanned and his skin cracked as a result, across his forehead especially, with a receeding hairline that he'd slicked back even further. His hair ashy coloured like the butt of a cigarette.

He clicked his tongue as Clementine bore her eyes into him, showing she was ready for whatever he had to throw at her. He returned a look that suggested she didn't know shit.

His withdrew it and instead let it wander over to a crying Sophie. Then to Minnie who still lay in the fetal position until the gun trained on her prodded her to get back onto her knees where Lilly and Sophie already were. 

Clementine could not see Ryan anywhere in sight however. And it would have troubled her more were they not with immediate worse problems. 

The leader cut across her train of thought to address her over again.

"Now, miss. How about you join your beautiful companions on your knees for me?" His tone was already sickening to the stomach, and she wanted to do anything but obey. 

But she wouldn't be responsible for Minnie suffering another blow. He had struck her so hard that half of her face had flushed red.

So she walked slowly to join her comrades, falling to one knee first, being watched intently by everyone opposing her, and then finally down onto both.

Clementine made sure to spit at his feet as she did so. But he simply laughed at her apparent feeble protest, knowing not what she was capable of. 

Not knowing that if she had so much as a shiv, his guts would be on the floor about now. That was she sure of.

"Mm mm mm. We did good, men. This batch were definitely worth the wait." He paused as he looked across them all.

"Well, maybe not this one" He said, pointing out Lilly, who would have eaten his outstretched finger if it had gotten much closer.

"She's a little old for my tastes. I don't like them worn. Though I'm sure we can figure out somethin'." He said with a disconcerting joviality.

"Fuck you. If you touch any of these girls I'm going to slice off your balls and shove them through your fucking eye sockets. You hear me?" Lilly spat with unwavering venom despite the shotgun pointed at the back of her own skull.

"Fiesty. But still, no dice, darlin', I'll be giving you a miss. But these two, wow. Can't say I've ever had twins before. You the same down to the last freckle there girls?" He asked menacingly.

Minnie and Sophie both ignored his question, though through the latters crying Clementine was unsure if she had heard it anyway. The man tutted again.

"Again with the lack of manners? We'll have to whip these ones into shape boys, which is fine, I do love the challenge." He swaggered back and forth past them, the spurs on his boots jangling as he did so.

"The ones we have now, they bent far too easily. If you know what I mean." He said sickeningly. His horde of followers roared with laughter, showing their agreement.

"Others!?" Lilly said, unable to contain anger and rightly so. Though Clementine questioned whether they would think she was worth the trouble for much longer.

Lilly was a wild card to them now they'd made it clear they weren't interested. They could just as well throw her over the bridge and be done with it.

"Oh yes, ma'am. You're not the first." He said with a sneer. He let the words sink in before pressing his fingers to his mouth and whistling out. 

The crowd parted ominously and then Clementine heard that sound again, the chains. Dragging along the wooden planks, smacking off each one as the four figures she had noted way back came forward with their heads bowed.

Another notch of horror and repulsion for their captors hit Clementine as she realised that the chains she had heard back in Uniontown were in fact shackles. 

Shackles that imprisoned four young girls. The chains wrapped around their bare waists and wrists before trailing across to the next girl, keeping them from separating any more than a few metres.

They wore next to nothing. Their feet were bare and dirty black despite each having pale skin and looking up their bodies only sought to have Clementine see more scars, cuts and wounds than she thought possible on human skin.

In fact the only clothing they had been allowed to cover their modesty below was a thin strip of opaque material falling at the front and the back. Though any movement would render it more useless to their dignity than it already was.

Their hair was matted and tangled without exception and they were extremely emaciated. Kept on scraps if anything at all. 

Three of the girls wore the same blank expression on their faces, somewhere else entirely, likely a reaction from their minds to try and stop them shutting down completely.

The other though was definitely present. She had shorter hair than the rest and seemed less beaten down mentally, and yet much more so physically, sporting a swollen bottom lip and a heavily bloodshot eye on her face where the others had been virtually untouched.

The man stepped forward in front of the girls, who could be no older than Clementines age. Though beneath all the bruises and cuts plaguing their skin it was hard to tell definitively, they could be two or three years younger.

Clementine felt her stomach wretch. But nothing came up. Now she was faced with what she would have to become, she found the distress already worming its way into her pysche.

Then his shadow loomed over her as he looked down. Clementine tried to avoid having to look at him for a second longer than she had to, but he pulled off her hat and threw it across the floor.

"Girls" He boomed, to Clementine and the other three. "Meet your new neighbors." He waited for a response again but only got one from his followers as they celebrated.

"Now, I'll be honest, they ain't much company. But hopefully you girls can step up to the plate. And that ain't no cannibal joke." He smiled a surprisingly set of white teeth, revelling in his authority. 

"Now, I've got some questions, and I'm sure you have many of your own. So why don't we get a little cosy here and see to it that we all know where we stand? Or kneel...as they case may be."

"Firstly, introductions. We-" He spread his arms out either side of himself to show the two dozen men waiting behind, each with an unsettling aura. 

"We, are The Homecoming. And I am your Homecoming King." Lilly was unable to contain a snigger at this, even in their hellish environment. The man turned his attention to her and nodded.

"I know, I think its a little corny too, honestly. But I think we make it work. See these girls would have lived for Homecoming back in the day. So we thought hell, we should keep that tradition alive. But only in name and the fact that all these beautiful, prime girls will be my queens."

"They'll be nothing but the people who put you down, old man." Lilly said, defiantly. 

The man holding the gun to her head butted it forward violently to shut her up but the leader held his hand up to signal a cease to it. "It's all good, everyone is allowed to speak their mind here. Or not as the case may be." He added, eyes flickering to Clementine who had said nothing thus far.

"Anyway, I would ask for your names but somehow I believe it would be a waste of my breath. Now King will do if it takes your fancy, but if that is a little too grandiose you can also refer to me as Alaric. Unfortunately not a birth right, but I'm a cultured man."

He surveyed his audience again who remained silent. The one way conversation had begun to lose its edge with Alaric as he next sentence would prove.

"I'm beginning to feel a little disappointed at the lack of rappor building here, girls. Perhaps it's time for the presentation, what do you think, men?" Alaric stated, running his coarse hands over his mouth.

The mongol like horde approved wildly and immediately jumped into positions they had clearly been previously given.

The men with their guns pointed at Clementine and the others' heads stayed in position but others moved up behind the chained girls, three of which got down on all fours in unison.

The short haired one however refused, and Alaric simply cocked his head forward with his arms now folded, giving the balding, beefy man behind the go ahead to do what he did next.

He grabbed a fistful of her hair and tried to force her into the same position to which the dainty girl tried fighting him off, unwilling. Clementine flinched as the man then wrapped a thick arm underneath her chin and contracted it tightly, squeezing as the girl tried her damnedest to release it.

Now Clementine found herself speaking up as she watched helplessly. "Stop! Please! You'll suffocate her!"

Alaric laughed deeply. "Oh finally. Hello, there! So you're not a mute then? I was beginning to think so. I wouldn't worry about Emma. She's always needed a stronger hand than the others. Roarke, quit playing with your food. We have things to get on with." 

He ordered as Roarke let go of a spluttering Emma, using her disorientation to instead pull her arms back into a chicken wing position and force her onto all fours, reaching around and smacking her breasts violently as more punishment to which Emma cried out.

Clementine looked away. She had underestimated everything this group was. Sophie and Minnie had looked away too, the former to the floor and the latter directly at her sister, trying to catch her sight to let her know it would be okay, however false that may end up being judging by the other girls.

"I'm sorry girls, but I'm goin' to need you to watch this. It's going to be a big part of your lives goin' forward. We'll feed you, keep you alive, all we ask for is our base needs to be tended to in return." He whistled out again.

"Okay. Without further a do. Lights!" He shouted. The few left with no detail to speak of lit up the scene, torching the flammable items in their possession, and throwing everyone under its blaze.

"Camera!" Clementine felt the muzzle of the gun against the base of her skull press harder, hearing it cock back and realising it was a cue to watch the shackled girls suffer all the way through the coming ordeal.

She did so, but only through barely pryed eyelids, keeping the images blurred and saving one sense the imminent horror it would otherwise be at the mercy of.

Alaric, perched on the bridges frame readied himself for the final call between Sophies uncontrollable breakdown as anticipation and indescribable sickness clashed with the four girls on their hands and knees in the middle.

Then he roared.

"Action!!!"

At the expense of innocence for all.


	26. A Last Stand.

*

"Wait!!" Clementine shouted, desperate to stop the twisted act from starting - though she'd barely registered the words leaving her mouth.

She had thought she could take what was in store. And she would have done.

But she couldn't watch somebody else go through it. No matter her level of attatchment or lack thereof. They were human and that was enough.

She could have stayed quiet and tried to detach herself from the abhorrent things she would be forced to witness. But it would never be her nature. Even with a loaded gun to her head, her morality would not fail her.

The men in position behind their prone victims paused as they looked to Alaric for guidance as to whether Clementines call should be accommodated or ignored.

He gave them nothing directly, instead leaning forward and addressing her with playful torment in his reply... 

"Wait? Are you not ready for the show?" He scratched his chin for a moment in fake thought, his gaze crawling over Clementine, perverting her clearly on his mind.

"Maybe you're right." Alaric spoke finally. "It is the main event after all. We should built to the climax. Not just shoot our load right away." He got back up from his perch and started his swagger over to stand between both sets of captives.

"Then again, we've had this little moment planned for a while now. It's bigger than all of us in a way. Changing it is going to require a whole lot more engagement on your part to make postponing it worth while."

"What do you want to know." Clementine asked through gritted teeth.

"Well, let's go back to your name. May I have it?"

"My name is Clementine." She responded.

Alaric chuckled at learning this. Piling on the anger in Clementine as if their predicament were not enough cause. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothin',  it's been a long time since I've seen a Clementine is all. I sure hope you taste as good..."

"Fuck you." She replied plainly.

"Oh you will." Alaric shot back, drawing closer. "Look, I just want to know what makes you tick, Clementine. See, I know there's more to find behind that angst. For instance, I know you're a determined little thing. You and the boy you sent over that bridge would have outrun most. Foruntately I'm what you would call, an obsessive personality."

He came to a stop standing almost on top of her, his crotch virtually there for the castrating if Clementine had had a weapon. She didn't chance using her teeth however, knowing it wouldn't get her anything but brutality once Alaric recovered.

The thought however must have also crossed his own mind as he retreat that one step, rocking back on his heels as Clementine still knelt in his shadow. He went on.

"You're smart too. How did you know to send the boys in your group on? Kitch give you that one?" Clementine allowed her lip to curl in response to this.

"Before I skewered his dick and kicked him off the ridge." She said, venomous threat in each word.

"A few here would thank you for that. No mean feat though if I do say so. What Kitch lacked in brains he made up for in breaking bones so that was quite a victory for y'all."

Alaric sneered then as he crouched to Clementines level, looking her directly in the eyes for the fear that would follow his next words "Unfortunately for you we know exactly where they're going thanks to the brochure you left behind."

He continued, pleased with the reveal. "It was a hunch for a while but the further y'all got the clearer it became we had the right idea. So... while I would love to let you have the peace of mind that they're safe, some of my boys could really do with the target practice."

He stood up straight quickly and about faced to his brigade, summoning eight of them forward for their orders. 

"Follow them to The Greenbrier. If you're lucky enough to get a kill shot, you'll be the first to get a go on these pure young ladies." He said, turning and showing his men their potential prize.

"Just bring me the blonde girl alive. We'll get more for a full house. You can take the black one out on sight. She's past it like this one." He thumbed toward Lilly who was essentially salivating waiting for the half second she would need to turn the tables.

"Go." Alaric finished lazily.

The men ushered past Clementine and the others after giving acknowledgement to the task handed to them. Edging along the bridges frame in the same fashion as the escapees in her group had done earlier.

Clementine watched as her panic switch had been well and truly flipped. Violet and AJ were no longer out of dodge. And now the clock on them finding a successful way out was ticking like an 808 behind her ribs.

She scanned around as Alaric continued to talk. The odds were now slashed considerably down to only a four verses twelve. They could have been eight strong but with the other girls restrained with chains she held no hope for their ability to help.

Even if they were not bound together with those same chains snaking around their wrists Clementine held the notion that perhaps only Emma would have the mental strength to tip the scales any.

"No offence intended, by the way. We all have our preferences. Normally I'd put your kind down no questions asked. But somehow, here you still are." Alaric said, adding racism to the list of reasons Clementine would one day butcher him.

She tried not to let that show however, he had already barbed her enough with his apparent ideals. She had to stay as calm as she could, at least outwardly. Piss him off and they would be right back to watching his men force themselves on Emma and the others.

"And you're going to tell me why." Clementine prodded, though she did not care to listen to the response.

"You've got a spark. Potential. And I can't stamp that out. Not yet anyway. Not until I've had the pleasure of lighting the fuse myself at least once..." 

Clementine kept her mind firmly on cobbling together some kind of plan of escape as she replied.

"Yeah? Give me one of those torches your men are holding and I'll make sure to return the sentiment." She said, thoroughly unable to play the long game as her need to save Violet and AJ stayed rooted at the forefront of her mind.  

Clementine noticed Lilly calculating the same way. The former and probably Lilly herself knew she was fast enough to disarm her security quicker than he could react, but it would still leave her alone against almost a dozen other men after doing so. And not even Lilly was that unfallable.

When they acted, it needed to be something that would cause enough distraction and confusion for them to get the upper hand. But how? They had nothing to defend themselves with. No outside interference riding through to save the day.

"Damn, I am loving the fiestiness, darlin'. The spark I'm talking about! I hope we don't beat that out of you too much." Alaric mused. "On the other hand, I do wish someone would do something to shut this one up!" He said, raising his voice in sudden loss of patience.

He sidled over to the brink of the in tact portion of the bridge where Sophie had been unable to sufficiently supress her whimpering, face buried in her hands as she did so. 

That was until Alaric crouched down before her now as he had done to Clementine, with all the condescention of speaking to a small child.

"Miss, are you going to stop any time soon? It's just I'm gettint alone with your friend over here and, well, I can't carry on doing so if I can't hear myself think now, can I?" He almost whispered.

When she didn't respond he reached out and grabbed her hair to pull her head up to look at him. And she reacted in an ill calculated, if at all it was, move. 

She headbutted Alaric, sending him rolling onto his backside and thoroughly embarassing him in the process. It came at a price however as the retaliation was swift and aggressive beyond reason as the man behind her belted the back of her head, sending her off course from trying to jump on top of Alaric.

Instead he ended up on top of her, thrashing at her face with furiosty at being so easily struck as Sophie tried unsuccessfully to shield herself. As another man pulled her arms away, standing on her palms to allow Alaric free reign on the assault.

Minnie, who had never once taken her attention from her sister, burst up from her position trying to help her sister, and spewing vitriol when she was taken down by her own detainer, ripped beyond any natural physique in the apocalypse.

"Hey fucker! STOP! STOP! Take your hands off her!" Alaric paused his rage to look at the twin he wasn't currently beating. Minnie carried on.

"Yeah, that's right, you fucking c-come here and do that to me instead. We're  twins, so it ain't like you're getting anything less. I- I got that attitude you're after!" She shouted.

Alaric stood up then, ending his ruthless attack as Sophie lolled her head to the side to spit out blood. Tears tracking her face, reaching out feebly to try and stop him from resuming his need to assume power after having it challenged by what he clearly thought to be an inferior sex.

But then he stopped, his white toothed, wicked smile creeping back over his cracked - and for a moment - contorted features. His forehead sported an almost already fully formed egg-like bump as he spoke, his tone detached from the violence he had exacted.

"You're close then, huh? I mean, it wouldn't take a genius but regardless, I guess we've found your trigger. And I know I don't need to beat you to a pulp to see that you're hers too." He paused to come up with the most unsettling threat he could think of.

"Tell me, just how close would you two be willing to get to save me the pleasure of tasting her sweet self right here, right now?" Minnie simply laughed, and Clem was sure she was going to cough up the statement she had made about kissing her sister in the cavern when Lilly saved her blushes.

"You won't be tasting anything when I rip your tongue from your fucking mouth." Lilly piped up now once again, rattling Alarics cage. 

"What is with you and wanting to remove body parts?" He asked, trying to keep his cool. "Is she always like this?" He added, turning to Clementine with an affected grin. She could see he was getting riled up.

She figured he was so used to the sheer compliance if not straight up stockholm syndrome of girls he already had in his possession that this was new to him, on this scale at least. Clementine could only see Emma giving him any trouble and by the looks of her busted lip, she already had done.

"What are you doin' running with a bunch of teenagers anyway? Which ones yours? You bare twins or did you shack up with a cotton picker? I can't tell." He continued, slight shake in his voice.

"Why don't you come here and let me chew your ear off about it." Lilly scowled, causing so much unrest from those at Alarics behest that two of them moved to flank her either side.

And that was on top of the man already firmly holding her mortality in his hands, in the form of her own loaded rifle aimed at the back of her skull.

Alaric retaliated yet again, starting a slow turn as Alaric found himself getting dragged into a slanging match.

In fact his buttons were so easily pressed that Clementine wondered how on earth he'd found himself in charge of such a group let alone have them trapse hundreds of miles to track down she and the rest. It wasn't adding up.

He argued still, though it was not one he would ever win without resorting to resuming the rape show. Or worse, finish Lilly off there and then. It was the only way he could ascend back to complete supremacy for his followers.

And that made what Lilly was doing incredibly risky. Tempting fatality in fact. But what it was also doing was allowing Clementine time. Time she had to make count. 

She searched for a slither of opportunity as the small crowd of Alarics underlings  roared with over-zealous laughter at what their leader came back with. She didn't doubt their commitment to the cause, the capture and sexual slavery of young girls. Proving as they Jeered with every successful pull on the proverbial reel Lilly and Minnie managed.

They were doing their part. She could not look to them for more. Sophie still lay on her side in pain, holding her cheekbone tenderly. She would not have the strength.

Clementine had taken to praying Ryan hadn't in fact bailed on them and was biding her time for the right moment to attack successfully when she found her own attention grabbed by Emma from her peripherals. 

Her almost opal-like eyes remained fiery as Clementine watched her begin to subtlely motion to her own naked backside, firmly resting on the heels of her blackened feet now as she taken the laxed attention from the beefy man to lean back off all fours to do so.

It was extremely strange. After directing Clementines eyes to her behind she would then make her feet flick inward to each other, bringing them together as though making them clap.

Emma would nod to Clementine after she did this. Again, it was something that was a constant movement. If she wasn't so forceful in her actions Clementine might have mistook them for a mental break of some sort.

Still Clem watched even without an ounce of understanding. The heels would jolt, and a noddinh of the head to her direction would follow. Clem knew she was trying to communicate something but was at a loss to what.

She widened her eyes to show her confusion, which prompted Emma to stop trying and instead run her hands, still chained at the wrists, through matted, dirt laden hair due to radiating impatience. 

She pulled the ends at the nape of her neck, the rest of her hair barely touching her ears, which pointed naturally at the top almost elf-like. Clementine watched her small chest rise as she drew in a deep breath. And then she looked up, talking to the sky out loud for everyone to hear.

"Hey, Cowboy." She said, in a lazy tone, addressing Alaric who hovered at Clementines back as he held his war of words with Lilly.

She carried on without actually giving him her gaze. Clementine felt Alaric turn to face Emma, though she didn't wait for acknowledgement.

"Far be it for me to interrupt this fucking circus but can we get on with it? I'm no fan of being raped, especially by your limp pin prick but somehow your public speaking skills are making the wait un-fucking-bearable."

Emma slowly stood to her feet at this, revealing purple patches littering her small and undernourished frame, especially prevalent on her inner thigh bones. She wore healing bite marks across her small breasts too, and yet her stance had been one of uncaring to cover them up. She stood proud despite her scars.

That was until the beefy man behind grabbed the back of her neck to force her back down, bucking his hips forward into her so she fell flat, unable to use her hands to break her fall.

Alaric spoke out then over the laughter at Emma's fortune. "Leave her be." He said, as she pushed herself back up in defiance.

Clementine heard his boots jangle as his heavy footfall started toward Emma, leaving his war of words with the others in his wake.

"Emma. You've always been a woman of few words, but I must say, whenever you grace us with them, they intend only to cut me deep." Alaric replied, his tone trying to say it hadn't worked. However Clementine knew it belied the truth that his pride had taken a hit.

"Ought to be used to it then. Don't worry, I'll be back to kangaroo kicking your fucking junk by tomorrow. Just please, show them what they're in for so we can get to where we're going. I'm getting second degree embarassment having to see you lose the floor here." She replied, her skyward stare coming back down, but only to lock on Clementine once again.

She glared at Clementine, who studied Emma back, wondering what the hell was possessing her to encourage her abductor to get to the act she had fought to stop from happening only a short time before. An act that Clementine had saved her from.

"How helpful of you, Emma. Perhaps it is time. Though after the sheer disrespect I have been shown, I will have to make a special example out of you for the new girls. You understand my concerns right?" Alaric asked, with no true ounce of remorse tinging his words. 

Clementine felt his shadow envelop her as he started to pass her kneeled self on his way to indulge Emma who spoke again, making each and every syllable clear as she did so, seemingly for Clem's benefit as still she eyed only her.

"Give me your worst. I can't exactly spur you now can I? What can I do? Click my fucking heels and wish for home?" She said, forcing the reference. Then she stamped one of them to the floor so hard it shook the wooden plank beneath her.

But more importantly it drew Clementines attention down to the ground at the precise moment Alaric cut her in front of her visibility to Emma.

The glint of fire from those holding the torches flashed across the sharp silver wheels protuding from the rear of both of his boots. And suddenly Emma's hinting clicked. 

This was the moment that would save them, or condemn them. Clementine acted then, surprising Alaric as he questioned whether Emma even knew where 'clicking your heels' came from.

She threw herself flat onto her stomach, stretching out both hands with the speed of a cracked whip to tear the spurs from Alarics boots, counting her blessings that the buckle had weathered to such a degree that she was able to do so.

And then, in one lightning motion Clementine rolled onto her back, sending one firing of the spurs whizzing from her grasp and to the man who had stood behind her, having no time to defend against it.

It had been a relatively blind throw but somehow the sheer force of the spin saw the sharp edges gash his neck deep enough that he dropped his shotgun to grasp at the wound, which had started to trickle blood with growing velocity.

She thrust her leg forward, her foot connecting with the mans kneecap and hyper extending it the wrong way, giving beneath, sending him crumbling to the ground.

Clementine jumped up then, praying this moment of chaos had laid enough of a platform for the others to sufficiently get a handle on launching a valiant attack, even if it turned out to be their last stand...

She swiped up the shotgun and quickly pumped the mans heart with a shot that stopped it dead, his jugular still spilling red. Then she spun around to seek out Alaric, instead seeing pandemonium.

Shots were ringing out with deafening consequences. Lilly was now also in possession of a weapon, the rifle she'd had stripped from her earlier was in the face of her detainer. 

The two men flanking her lay motionless where they had once stood. The man she had not yet taken the life of was clutching his nose, presumably having been headbutted; a geizer of blood pouring through his fingers.

That was before a fresh hole in the forehead via Lillys trigger finger added another route for the crimson to flow.

Emma, who had been the whole inspiration for the table turning had left the ground, having managed to scale her captor from the front completely akin to a squirrel climbing a tree, though the comparison ended there as she used the beefy mans own weight against him.

They crashed to the floor, with Emma regaining her composure first, trapping his head between the crook of her knee and thigh, then frantically thrusting the shin of her other leg into his throat repeatedly, working to rid him of conciousness.

This action forced the other girls out of their catatonia as the chain reached maximum give, throwing them all off the all fours position they had tried to retain, terrified of the repurcussions the uprising would have for them if they partook.

Emma was too far gone to notice  anything going on beside her however as she shouted out.

"I hope you're enjoying this you fucking cunt! Because its the closest you're ever going to be to mine again!" The muscle in her temple almost pulsating with the force she was using to tense her leg and also beat in the top of the beefy mans head with the chains locked around her wrists.

This caused the other followers around her to jump into action, intending to save their comrade. Before they succeded however another loud burst saw one of them hit directly in the back courtesy of Clementine.

It forced the other men to retreat, pulling the three other chained girls onto their feet to use as shields against the reigning gun fire.

Clementine had been in the process of reloading when a strike across the face found her, the force of which sent her sprawling to the floor, the shotgun sliding from her grasp and over the edge to the river below.

In that moment, she saw Minnie trying to aid her sister in surviving the onslaught, standing her up they had coinjoined back to back as two fire welding torch bearers closed in on them. Swinging the flames in an attempt to immolate their targets.

Clementine had began pulling herself back up when a foot in the back of her head smashed her face into the wooden bridge, disorientating her as a warmth spread across her smarting features.

She lay there for a moment, her vision spinning as not even the adrenaline coarsing through every atom inside her body helped to sufficiently subjugate the pain. 

Whoever had struck her the second time had not stayed to finish the job off, either believing they already had done or felled themselves.

Clementine forced herself to roll over, finding Minnie and Sophie successfully corned, the flames almost licking their porcelain features.

Arching her neck upwards she saw that their attempt had almost been rendered a failure as the Homecoming were recovering their domination.

Because of the three girls fear to fight, Clementine losing her gun, and Lilly in a viscous fist fight, it left the enemy to focus solely on stopping Emma, who had seemingly made her momentary freedom count for something as the beefy man she had been choking out lay void of life.

But now the odds she was left with were insurmountable, fighting unsuccessfully to take down three other men at once. She had been forced to the ground and had both her arms pulled so far back that Clementine actually heard the sickening pop as one dislocated.

She screamed out in primal agony as it continued to be hyper extended, only stopping dead only when the remaining member of her attackers swung his leg hard, the boot connecting with her jaw and rendering her limp.

Lilly was the only one still holding her own as she managed to wrestle one man over the bridges side, he scream echoing out as he fell from such a height that the unforgiving surface of the river below surely shattered his bones.

Lilly retrieved her weapon instantly, though she was similarly cornered while she fiddled with the reload mechanism.

Suddenly Clementine felt herself being dragged up under the chin, the blood dripping from her nose onto their sleeve as her feet left terra firma, kicking wildly as Alaric roared out next to her ear.

"Hey! Hey! Stop! You're outnumbered and we've got your friends." He shouted to Lilly who had just got her gun re-cocked.

"Y'all put up a fight but lay down your weapon or I'll throw this bitch down into the river. I'm not fucking around!." He threatened, using Clementine as a shield so Lilly couldn't use her last remaining shot taking him down.

He tightened his arm around Clementines neck forcing her to flail even more as the lack of oxygen made her lungs start to compress and decompress rapidly, desperate to draw what little it could in.

Cornered, with only one bullet and the rest of her group at the mercy of The Homecoming once again, she hesitated. And it lasted all of one moment.

Lilly ultimately chose not to heed Alaric, lifting her rifle and expelling the last round at point blank range to those who had cornered her. 

Uneblievably it missed its target considering the crack shot she usually was. It skimmed between all of them, whizzing past the ear of Alaric too in the process.

He likely would have taunted her for the attempt but he didn't get chance with only a second passing between deflation and then realisation that she wasn't aiming for any of them.

Instead it hit one of the fire waving henchman imprisoning Minnie, boring  directly right through his shoulder, and forcing the flames from his grasp...

They immediately caught, starting to seer through the wooden bridge as the wind acted as an accelerant, fanning it to heights as tall as themselves within a matter of seconds and birthing a new level chaos.

The blaze separated Minnie and Sophie from the rest, drawing a line between them and leaving only the option of negotiating the beams flanking the inner bridge before the area they stood on broke down to smoking cinders.

Clementine felt its unbearable heat sting the side of her face as it spread rapidly toward both she and Alaric as he tried to drag her away. A dual attempt to save himself and keep her as a bargaining chip, surely now realising the tables had turned for the last time.

However he would never get the chance, as in dancing away from the fire his grip slipped enough on Clementines neck that she felt her toes finally touch down  again. But only momentarily.

As with total disregard for her own safety, having only AJ and Violets firmly on her mind, she used her new found gravity to kick back off the ground with as much force as she could muster.

It sent Alaric completely off balance and flailing as gravity pulled Clementine with him. Falling backwards he let out a panic stricken yawl over the ferociously snapping flames.

Afforded no time to find his footing he slipped off into the mouth of the dilapidated bridge, his grip releasing Clementine a little too late, sending her close behind.

Though only one of them would call out with a primal fear as they careered down to the river below, and stopping abruptly as their life came to an end.

Clementines calloused palms clung to the edge for dear life. Her breathing severly inhibited due to a the now dead hand that had been restricting her windpipe.

She heard Minnie and Sophie screaming from the other side of the bridge in unison as she tried desperately to pull her own weight back up onto the burning side she hung from.

"Clementine! The fire!"

"You have to back get up!"

She heard them cry. They didn't have to tell her though, she could feel the stinging sensation return as the flames hissed, spitting nearer to her fingers.

But she was tired. Her arms were using everything they had left to keep her from slipping to the same fate as Alaric. And her thigh was in too much of a sorry state to be of any use.

Suddenly she felt an icy touch raising her slowly. Saving her from the brink.

Clementine laid eyes on her saviour fleetingly as she rose to see above the surface of the brittling bridge, continuing to be dragged across the boards once only her feet overhung, coming to a stop only when she could no longer feel the temperature raging so abidingly intense.

She had tried to croak out a thanks to Lilly as the smoke clawed at her throat, but the latter was already back on her feet and racing back onto the bridge as Clementine heard pieces of it collapse, throwing fizzing embers skyward.

She exherted herself one last time to see what Lilly had gone back for. An unconcious Emma and the chained girls who had been yanking her across the floor manically with little success.

They had just managed to edge themselves from the centre of the bridge as it caved in almost completely, causing Lilly to skid to a halt before it swallowed her too, instead circling around the meet them.

She knelt down and lifted Emmas dead weight up with a struggle despite her cadaverous frame. Her exhausted features lit up by the all illuminating inferno chasing her as she urged the others inching toward safety.

Eventually they did so, dropping into a heap next to Clementine as she watched the fire scorch every last splinter of wood, desperate to keep from dying out.

Everyone lay panting, supping in the cleaner air before the smoke ghosted over to contaminate it. Processing in deafening silence the ordeal they had all somehow managed to survive. 

She lightly tapped her head back to rest on the ground. Watching the world above her swirling perpetually. And it could have been hours.

Every time she blinked she expected to see the black sky replaced by the pale blue of day. But every time, it remained unchanged.

That was until a sodden pair of twins dropped to their knees at her side, obscuring her view as they leaned in close to her face.

"Clem! Clem! A-are you okay!? Minnie begged, the ends of her hair dripping onto Clementines sore features. She wasn't. And wouldn't be for a long time.

But her buckled nose didn't matter. 

The septated wounds on her thigh did not matter. 

The strangle marks left behind by Alaric around her neck, Did. Not. Matter. 

In fact, there would only ever be two things that truly did matter on this sorry, spinning rock. And she wouldn't be okay until they were safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had hell with this chapter. I rewrote it completely twice.
> 
> It's funny because this is the biggest moment, where it all comes to a head, and I thought I had it all planned. Turns out I did not.
> 
> Originally it went a lot darker. There would be rape. Graphic. and Clementine would be forced to watch. This would be what makes them stand up and fight.
> 
> But it didn't sit right with me. Sure, Clem had a gun to her head, but she was not bound. She still had the ability to talk. The Clementine I know would never not try to do SOMETHING.
> 
> Unless she was being physically restrained to the point she could not speak, nor move, she would not shy away and let anyone be raped if she could help it.
> 
> So I changed it. Maybe I should have stuck to my guns. Who knows. But I thought the threat of rape would be enough to force Clem to act. To stall.
> 
> The actual act did not need to happen to give my Clementine the rage she needed to take revenge. To be the hero.


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, it's been a while. Had things that kept me away. Three Chapters to go post this one below. It's not long, but I felt like I needed a quiet chapter after all the mayhem beforehand. I hope its alright anyway. I struggled to end it satisfactorly.
> 
> But I hope it comes across alright.

*

"I'm- I'll be okay." 

Clementine responded with a rattle in her breath and a tightness in her chest. 

She was lying through her teeth, but there were others in more immediate need of their attention.

"Emma..." She added, feeling the twins' presence withdraw from her and over to the unconcious girl moments later.

"She's breathing... but it's shallow" Sophie called out, hoping for instruction on how to proceed. 

"And it sounds like shit." Minnie tacked on, her ear hovering over the girls badly scratched chest.

Clementine could hardly make sense of her own thoughts let alone inform the twins of what had befallen her, but thankfully Lilly saved her the trouble.

"She was knocked out cold. Just- ah, just wring out your top over her face. Love tap her cheeks, it might be enough to boot her back up." She said wearily, her breathing also compromised.

There was only a dimming roar from the subsiding fire to be heard then while they followed Lilly's instruction. A whisper of willing from Minnie.

And then a spluttering as Emma returned to living, her lungs doing their best to dredge up the smoke sticking to them as more of it ghosted its way through the brightly scorched night.

Clems bones ached beyond comprehension as she crawled over to her co-conspirator, finding Emma in the process of being propped up to rest against her chained brethren.

"Are- are you okay Emma?" Clementine askee hoarsely, the metallic taste of blood on her lips as gravity dragged a few more drops from her nose. 

"I'm alive... I think. And it ain't fucking Emma." Emma choked out, losing non of her apparent confrontational nature as both Sophie and Minnie got to work trying to unravel the chains cutting into her wrists before moving on to do the same for the other three. 

"It's Emryn."

Clementine double-took, perplexed. "Uh- sorry? He kept calling you-" Emryn drowned her out, coughing up copius amounts of phlegm before she was able to reply again with any clarity.

"Yeah. Well. I don't make a habit of announcing my real name to people who routinely rape me and then expect pillow talk afterwards." She said, managing a grimace before continuing.

"I'm hedging my bets that I've not ended up in the hands of a bunch of lesbian molesters here." She finished, dripping wit.

In the moment of silence that followed Clementine felt a hand come to rest over her shoulder, bearing the same icyness that had prevously pulled her to safety.

"Clem. This isn't over." Lilly said, massaging the small of her own spine gingerly. "The others... The kids." She reminded.

Clementine nodded in acknowledgement, returning to run her eyes over the recovering Emryn, and again wishing she could suspend time where it stood.

The girl was in no fit state, and thus Clementine found herself trying to be as delicate as she could despite the time sensitive matter they faced.

"Uh- Emryn? C-can you stand? We need to rescue the rest of our people. And we could use the numbers." She posited, thinking back to the way she had seen Emryn take down and choke out a man three times her size.

"No." She replied flatly, moving her jaw in a circular motion and listening to the new clicking sound it made thanks to the boot that had connected with it.

Clementine didn't know what kind of reply she was expecting, but it wasn't that. She perservered. "We'll have shelter- you'll all have a place-"

"I'm not going anywhere near there. Did you not hear them say they knew where you were headed?" Emryn replied, steadfast.

Clementine then corrected Emryn, accounting her ignorance of the present state of The Homecoming to her unconciousness at the time of Alarics defeat.

"B- but they're dead. Alaric, he's gone. We just have to track down the ones who went after our people - and when we do, we'll kill them too!-" Clementine assured, though her patience thinned.

Every second spent convincing a stranger to join their ranks was a second that could be the difference between finding her people alive and well, or souless staggering corpses.

Emryn laughed and hacked in equal measure. An intense glare taking over as she met with Clementines renewed confusion. 

"You think that was it? Holy fuck. Listen, those guys- they were just a- a fucking splinter!" Emryn revealed, no concern for tact. "Shit."

Minnie was the first to question the statement, with agitated uncertainty. 

She was shivering due to her drowned state, and in noting this Clementine realised she and her sister must have swam over the river to rejoin them after the fire forced them astray.

"What the hell does that mean!?" She asked, throwing the now unravelled chain to the ground. 

"I mean it's fucking bigger than what you just faced. These fuck ups are nothing- not to mention way off the reservation." Emryn continued with exhasperation, massaging her raw wrists.

"Bullshit!" Minnie called, unwilling to be in anything but denial despite Emryn's lack of motive to be decieving.

"You wish. Hell, I wish! But it's true. I got caught by these guys way back and I heard shit- night and fucking day. There are more, I swear. And they know where you're going!" Emryn rebutted, still rotating her jaw.

Clementine felt the heat rising in her face, and this time it wasn't due to a burning fire. She would reiterate her point one last time.

"So there are more. We killed the ones who know about The Greenbrier. The others can't possibly know to follow us. We'll be safe!" She said, hoping this would get through.

It didn't however, for Emryn had seen and heard more than Clementine and the others had been privy to.

"They'll know because they have a system! They were fucking mercs. Out to source people like me and these three." She answered, rattling the chains that kept all four imprisoned at only the waist now.

"Alaric sent someone back with a message as soon as they saw that brochure." Emryn continued, filtering the information through. "And when they don't touch base, it's the first place they'll come looking."

The news was troubling, and it would be a cause for great concern once they reached their destination. But it had to be put on the backburner while more present dangers existed.

Lilly spoke, confirming her allegiance to Clementines train of thought. 

"If you're right, then- it's something we'll deal with when the times comes. But we have problems in the here and now and we can't wait around to convince you to come with us!"

"I've already told you. You won't. I'm not going. I, er, I hope your people survive." Emryn said with finality. Prompting a new voice to make itself heard, though timid with its conviction.

"W- what about us? I think we should go with them..." One of the previously mute girls said from behind a birds nest like mane that obscured much of her ability to make eye contact.

Emryn shook her head violently in response. "No fucking way. If we go with them we'll just end up back at square one. Look at you, Kacey. You want more of this!?" She reached out and prodded a particularly defined scar reaching almost the length of Kaceys forearm.

The girl instinctively tried to cover it up as she opened her mouth to retaliate, but Sophie chimed in with an observation that seemed to be escaping Emryn in her refusal to cooperate.

"It's going to be hard for you to stay off anyones radar when you're chained together like that. You'll struggle to out run walkers. You need clothes, and food." She added, observing the emaciated figures before her.

"I'll find a way. I always have done." Emryn argued back. Though Clementine noticed one of her now free hands subtley test the space between her waist and the chain links wrapped around it.

Even in her anorexic state, she was not slipping out of them.

Clementine didn't doubt Emryn and her ability to survive, but looking at the other three girls it was clear they were not so well versed in self sufficiency, and would perish before long outside of a safe set of walls.

"You can't make that decision for the others, Emryn. Kacey wants to come with us- and I'm sure the others feel the same way-" She looked to them for confirmation of this, not that it ultimately mattered.

Though unsurprisingly all three nodded feverishly.

"When we find a set of bolt cutters, you can be on your way. We won't stop you. But these girls want- no, need the shelter. Please? We're less than a day away." Clementine pursuaded.

Emryn picked at the skin around her cuticles as she pondered the terms put to her. She was clearly not at peace with them, however the promise of finally being truly freed would surely prove too enticing.

Clementine waited for her to reply. And she bit her busted bottom lip so hard before doing so that it punctured the scab, drawing new blood.

"Fine. But only because having to watch these three get eaten after what I've already seen them endure would just about do me in." She answered, showing she at least had a degree of empathy.

Though Clementine suspected Emryns capacity to feel this way was something she exhibited rarely. And it looked now as though she would not be afforded the time to find out.

"Thank you." Clementine said on behalf of everybody present. The girls each gave their gratitude in the form of tentative hugs to which Emryn seemed to suffer through begrudgingly.

They looted the dead bodies of their attackers for items of clothing to return some semblance of dignity to Emryn and the others. Though unsurprisingly nary an item fit, not that it was paramount they did.

The shirts they had managed to find that were neither charred nor clinging to freshly reanimated corpses floating down the river were few, but they did the job covering up their modesty as they fell beyond their new hosts knees.

It would have to be enough, because before long they were at the rivers edge. And Clementine couldn't help but feel her disdain for the stuff intensify as she stepped into its bitter depths.

In swimming at the rear of the convoy she searched for the corpse of Alaric, however the darkness of night only hindered her ability to do so, and her peace of mind was left wanting.

He must have floated away with the current by now. Likely in the process of reanimation if the hijacking hadn't already been completed.

It was something she had only given a cursory thought to in the past, but in doing so it struck her just how short the period between death and rebirth- for lack of a better word- had always been with each one she'd been unfortunate enough to observe.

She wondered if there would ever come a time where death would no longer be required in order for the take over to occur. To lose ones mind and know it was happening. It was a chill inducing thought and one she found herself submerging back beneath the surface instantly.

She was the last to reach the other side, pulling herself up from the water and standing to allow the saturated clothing weighing her down some time to flood the soil beneath her feet instead.

She watched as the others kicked out their limbs erratically to help the process along. The moment of pause allowing her to remember Ryans disappearing act.

Clementine was torn. Her decision to flee and not stick around to help the group had made their job to escape that much harder. 

However she could sympathise, as having been a victim of rape purpotrated by someone she had once found solace with, the threat of being thrust back into such a nightmare would be a trigger impossible not to succumb to.

And on top of that, Ryans decision, though they had not known it at the time, had been fortuitous for her mortality. As Alaric had made it clear she would have been one to die by his hand had she not crossed the bridge.

And so Clementine could not allow herself to condemn the choice Ryan had made, and instead only hope she was with the rest of her group, willing to do what she could to at least keep them safe until Clementine herself finally could for good.

She needed them now. The strength that their love gave her when they were by her side. Without it Clementine found herself becoming increasingly impaired. Love was funny that way.

To give and to take away with such merciless absolution. To place you with such ease in either heaven, or hell. Yet recently Clementine had known only limbo. And it was much, much worse...


	28. Nine Out.

*

Clementine limped ahead of the rest despite the war torn leg hampering every little movement she made.

They had been twenty two hours from their destination when they had been caught on the bridge. When she'd been forced to say goodbye again.

She pulled out the watch Lilly had allowed her to borrow so she could keep tabs on the ever shortening distance between themselves and The Greenbrier.

Her thumb drifted across the newly cracked casing, which sought to obscure the ticking hands beneath it. Tilting it slightly however told her that - accounting for the labored pace - they should be merely nine hours away.

Thirteen hours had passed then without a sign of any of them. Not the hunters, and not the hunted. One of the chained girls had tried to surmise this could only be a good thing.

However to those who had stakes in the safety of the missing, the words were of no comfort. 

Every step taken without confirmation either way, as bad as that sounded, was brutal on Clementines insides.

As each incline they faced was met with a dread taking root in her stomach for what could be on the other side. But when all of her worst thoughts were found to be left unanswered, over and over, it only meant she would continue to suffer.

That was the worst part for her. 

Not knowing. 

If they'd be found alive or dead. Alive or undead. The constant flux of emotions had her on the verge of tears.

But still she lead the pack. 

The rattling of chains dragged along the floor again behind, though not as ominous to the ears now Clementine knew the bearers were teenage girls.

There hadn't been much in the way of small talk other than the exchanging of names after they'd set off from the temporary setback. 

The remaining nameless girls had revealed themselves to be Danika and Lacey-Mae at Sophies request who had then reiterated the names of the rest present just in case it had escaped them during the immediate aftermath.

Clementine adjusted her hat then as Minnie increased her speed to join her pace. She didn't speak, knowing that Minnie would eventually do so herself.

But only after unsubtly staring at her for a time that Clementine found to be unecessarily long.

"That thing means a lot to you, doesn't it?" She asked, unspecifying exactly what she was speaking of. 

It was not hard to deduce however with Clementine having asked her to retrieve it from the river before it floated too far out of reach. Lost forever. 

She elected only to nod her head in response. Clementine never knew what Minnie she was going to get, and until she was sure where the questions would lead, she'd try to stay tight lipped.

"What's the deal with it?" Minnie asked, filling the silence. She walked almost shoulder to shoulder with Clementine, their knuckles grazing one anothers.

Clementine ignored her, something that Minnie noted, though if she knew the reasons she didn't confront them head on, choosing instead to expell a heavy breath and try again.

"Come on. We've both got something to lose here. I feel like I've got a stomach full of glass and I need to take my mind off of it. Please?" She asked.

Clementine would have held firm in refusing Minnie's requests if the dread hadn't returned as they started another climb up curved earth. 

"It's- the one constant." She replied, as succinctly as possible. However Minnie waited in quiet for more. Clementine could always tell when she hadn't been forthcoming enough.

She elaborated as she swallowed the rock in her throat back down as they reached the top of the slope, exiting the wilderness at the bend of a road that stretched indefinitely before them.

"I've lost everyone one way or another, for good. But my hat - always finds its way back onto my head." Clementine replied with truth, though it had felt silly saying so aloud.

"Did.... your parents give it to you?" Minnie asked, following Clems lead to carry on along the road, opting not to head back under the tree cover. 

She was sick of not being able to walk in a straight line without being forced to round hardwoods and pines.

"My Dad gave it to me. Lee gave it back to me. And then so did Violet..." Clem said, the rim of said hat keeping the sun light from her eyes.

"Lee was the guy who got you through the first days of this right?"

"Yes... how did you know?"

"We might not be together but me and Violet still talk you know. And you've got a pretty intense history from what came up. S-sorry if you don't want it going around..." Minnie added, fearful that she had dropped Violet in trouble.

"No, I mean, we've all been put through shit one way or another. You were stolen away to fight a war, right?" Clementine assured, her leg thankful for the concrete beneath her.

"I haven't been able to cross 'escape cannibalistic dairy farmers' off my list yet though." Minnie joked. 

Clementine found herself smiling when she shouldn't have. A mans life was lost that night. She afforded the redhead some eye contact, looking up to catch the grey within them, and feeling tiny in the process.

Minerva did not seem to be as stunted in the growth department as Clementine was. She was a woman in all but age. Though the extra inches that stood her as tall as Louis did not come from her legs, but her elongated torso.

Minerva bit her lip, smiling back and enjoying the moment. "Anyway, I guess I'm in pretty special company then."

"Huh?" Clementine asked, forgetting where they had left off momentarily as the back of their palms brushed past one another again.

"Your hat. I gave it back to you... like Violet and Lee..." She hinted, hoping Clementine would give her blessing and affirm the distinction.

Minnie could be. Clementine wanted her to be, in fact. But she had a lot of atoning to do before she could even begin to mean as much to her as both Lee and Violet did. 

Their motivations were never selfish when it came to Clementine. Lee had even gone so far as to sacrifice his life in pursuit of her rescue.

And Violet had stood before Ericson to defend Clementine when choosing not to could have left her at the mercy of a misguided mob led by Marlon.

Minnie didn't have to lay her life on the line to gain Clementines respect however. She expected that of nobody.

Minnie just needed to give respect to her relationship. To not let her emotions fuel how she approached her interactions with Clementine. 

They could be a team in time.

"You're definitely special." She quipped finally, keeping the mood as light as possible considering what may await them.

Minne stuck out her tongue playfully in feigned offence, before spinning around and walking backwards, observing the stragglers.

"If Louis can't get laid through one of these lot, he's gonna die a virgin." She said out of left field, noting the female to male ratio that now existed in their group.

"Violet used to complain that Ericson was too bro town..." Clementine responded. "I wonder what she'd call this."

"Ho town?" Minerva offered up. Clementine rolled her eyes. She would wager that their entire group hadn't been intimate sexually with anyone in at least a year.... willingly anyway.

"I thought you were playing nice?" Clementine asked.

"I am. With you." Minerva reminded, a mischevious tone accompanying her words as she continued to look over the six girls behind. 

Clem could almost sense the disquiet form within Minnie as she did so. She cleared her throat, readying herself to reveal what was causing her unease.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot" Clementine said without missing a beat, focusing on the miles ahead.

"Did the weird kid with the masks ever warn you he was going AWOL?"

It had taken her much longer than Lilly, but the guilt had found its way to her, though the insult endeavoured to keep this fact hidden.

"We had a talk about the situation. I asked him to sleep on it but when I woke in the night he'd already gone..." Clem shrugged. "Not that I think he wanted to. Not really."

"What makes you say that?" Minnie probed. Clementine didn't have a lot of basis for her conclusion.

"I don't know. Things he did. Taking the time to make those masks for one. He was trying to fit in."

"Or trying to save his precious walkers from being killed." Minnie rebutted, trying to absolve her questionable treatment of the boy despite the regret she so clearly felt over her part in his leaving.

"Maybe. Partly. At least he cared enough about his position with us that he tried to come up with a viable solution that may have benefitted everyone..."

"Why should he play for their side? Their only objective is to kill us or- or turn us into one of them. How can he see that as worth saving?" Minnie complained, a frustration bubbling underneath.

"I'm not saying he should, Minnie. It's hard to explain." Clementine began. She hadn't talked much to James in any depth on his feelings when it came to the walkers but she felt she had a good enough idea to put forth a defence for him.

"He lived among them for a long time... without needing to kill to survive. He just saw them differently I guess. You don't always have to see monsters, Min. They were people once. With families to protect, lovers to love, hopes and dreams to fulfill."

"With were being the top and tail here, Clem. They're not people any more. They're a threat."

"I know that. Look, when Aasim turned, what did we do?" Clementine asked, trying a new approach to the matter she had been dragged into.

"We killed him."

"And then..."

"We buried him."

"Why?"

"Because he was one of our own."

Clementine waited to see whether Minerva would get there on her own but it didn't seem the light switch in her head would ever flick on in realisation.

"Well, in some way, the walkers are his. We don't usually kill each other on sight, even these days, so in his head, he doesn't really see why he - or we - have to when it comes to walkers. Especially when he's been able to avoid it for so long..." Clementine finished, hoping for a better response this time. 

It was too much to ask however. "That's pretty cracked." Minnie said with skepticism.

"That kind of talk is why he isn't around anymore, Minnie. Besides, we're all cracked somehow." Clem said, though this drew indignation from Minerva.

"How are you and I cracked!?" She said, raising her eyebrows.

"I'm not going to speak to yours." Clementine replied, not wanting an argument about the morality of Minnie trying to adulterate her relationship.

Minnie subsequently tried to push the matter but Clem interjected to answer to her own. Though it was a tough question to direct at herself and find anything that the apocalypse had truly altered in her.

"I have pretty vivid nightmares. The last time I had one I woke up thinking I had murdered Aasim... so there's that." She said finally, realising that otherwise she had grown up to be a pretty well adjusted individual considering the events she'd faced during that time.

"That doesn't sound fun..." Minnie replied, humouring Clementines confession.

"They're never fun. But they have been comforting in the past. One time when I was out - after being shot -"

"Shot!?"

"Yeah. Some fucking Russian kid, few years older than me at the time, tried to steal a car we'd managed to get working... I caught them and well, he blew a hole in my side." Clementine educated, a momentary hope for revenge bubbling under as she remembered his face. Fuck Arvo.

"Damn. I didn't hear that one!"

"Anyway.... while I was out I dreamt I was back somewhere with the people I'd ran with when this all started. It felt so real. And I came back having learned things that I still try to carry with me..." Clementine explained.

"Peace and love and shit?" Minnie asked, sarcasm within it.

"That people handle things in different ways. That those ways don't always make sense, and that part of growing up is learning to do whats best for the ones you care about regardless. Understand?" Clementine said, paraphrasing slightly. 

She felt passing on that particular lesson could do Minerva some good going forward.

"I guess I can be a little too bullish sometimes..." Minerva finally admitted, forcing Clementine back to the predicament in which the two had found themselves in the car footwell...

"You're definitely bullish. But when it comes to James I think the word you're looking for is intolerant. He is- was a good guy. He had his drawbacks but you have to learn to look past them in most people. Okay?"

"Well he's gone now. I can't-" Minnie started.

"You can for others." Clementine reassured, to which Minerva nodded ecouragingly.

"Thanks, Clementine."

"Don't mention it. I mean, you live and you learn." Clementine said, happy to be making headway with a somewhat volatile relationship.

"Until you get bit." Minnie joked.

"Not me." Clementine replied. Never more sure of anything.

\-----

She had long forgotten the passage of time when she spotted a single black blot where the asphalt met the horizon.

It was so remote that it could have been anything in truth. An abandoned car. A walker feeding. And yet she left Minerva in the dust as she took off towards it.

The figure growing in size slowly as the pain in her thigh increased in kind.

She didn't care. 

Because it wasn't long before she could be certain they were her sloping shoulders. That the back of her blonde head, marred with dried blood though it was, was hers.

Clementine called out passionately, expecting to see her to rise rapidly from her knees in preparation for a crushing embrace.

But Violet did not meet those expectations, reaching her feet instead with a worryingly laborious speed.

Clementines synapses were overloaded instantly as wildly differing emotions crashed into each other. 

For her elation at finding Violet alive had given way in a split second to the horrible realisation that movement no longer meant anything in terms of ones mortality. And yet she didn't hesitate even half a step in her approach.

Confirmation in fact only coming one or two seconds before Clem near bowled Violet over, she registered her bloodshot eyes, thankfully retaining their colour.

Violet was not undead. And Cementine pulled her into an intense and loving grip that she had intended to stay in indefinitely if she was able. 

Her eyes had closed together tight, though she had seen nothing but Violet from the second she'd realised it was her. As she'd chased her down. As they had collided and Clementine now breathed her in for all the comfort it gave her.

Yet there was something very wrong with her counterpart, and it soaked right through the atmosphere around them both. A kind of silence.

Clementine knew the kind it was, and where it reared its head... But she didn't want to face it. Not now. Not after everything they'd been through. 

Both together and apart.

"I- I'm so sorry.... Clem, I tried." Violet said, disorientation consuming her as she stood, unable to return the hold Clementine gave her.

Clementine scrunched her eyes tighter as she heard the distant calls from those of her group still approaching. Tears dripped onto her lips as they began to tremble.

"I tried to save h-him... B-but- the blood." Violet spoke again, her confession felt like a blade severing the centre of Clementines heart. She tried to push Violets head into her own shoulder, just to make her stop.

Because she didn't want to hear it. The not knowing would have haunted her forever. But she knew now it would pale in comparison to the guilt of having to live knowing she'd failed to protect her little boy. 

It would eat her from the inside out, and she would deserve it.

Clementine clamped her teeth into Violets jacketless shoulder, in attempt to dull the involuntary grief-stricken wail she would surely emit at seeing his small, lifeless body. 

Her nails anchored into her lovers skin too, expecting part of her soul to physically depart with AJ.

But an ear splitting screech rang out, rendering her attempts to brace herself for the coming purgatory mute. Her eyes were open.

It was carnage. Bodies lay strewn. Some sat deceased against the trees, their DNA splattered across the bark above their heads. Some lay mangled on the concrete of the road itself.

She winced as she scoured the scene, scared to find the bodies of her own. So scared that she must have already seen them and been unable to process their departed states. She looked again.

Louis was the first she would find, flat on his back with his eyes firmly shut. She thought she saw his chest rise slightly, but she could not be sure.

Her eyes were unable to focus for long enough. Moving rapidly over the massacre with little to no control over their direction.

She felt Violets body start to shake violently as she released a wave of tears in response to another howl of pain sent forth from behind them both.

Ryan lay expired. The murder weapon embedded in the back of her skull, blood pooled beneath her face. She had indeed returned to the group, and died by doing so, protecting against the splintered off members of The Homecoming.

The commotion grew at her back as the unconsolable wailing continued. But it all dissipated to nothing in Clementines ears as they pricked at the sound of someone sniffing with sadness at her feet.

Forcing herself to look down she found there were two little boys with their eyes open. One set cold, and lifeless. The other pair glassy, but prevailing... 

He cradled the others head gently with blood drenched palms as he looked at Clementine, the affliction of suffering palpable for his deceased friend.

"She's a murderer, Clem. That woman. She killed Tenn..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The home stretch. Not sure how I'm going to wrap everyones arcs up but hey ho. This Chapter gave me more grief than the battle on the bridge honestly, trying to find the best way to write it to read well.
> 
> apologies if it didnt turn out so good. I hope the end can leave you feeling better.


	29. Removing the Mask.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope this turns out well. I promise I had this planned before I started writing it all out, I dropped hints here and there so HOPEFULLY you guys can buy what you're about to read and it doesn't come off tacked on and stupid.
> 
> ONE CHAPTER TO GO.

*

The information acted like a whirlpool seeking to take Clementine under. _She?_ It made no sense.

No women resided _with_ The Homecoming. They were only imprisoned by.

The unconsolable sobbing grew to its highest pitch as Minerva and Sophie both crawled into Clementines eyeline, coming to a stop next to their lost brother, and together draping an arm each over his chest.

Instinctively Clementine looked to get a visual on the fatal wound that had befallen Tenn. The twins were in no fit state of mind, but somebody had to be.

To be sure he would not rise.

She was able to briefly clock the wound at the base of the neck as Minnie lifted Tennessee's lolling head from AJ's bloodied hands.

There would come a time when one of them would have to put him down for good. 

Clementine would have to stay alert as the twins grieved and only hope they were afforded enough time to comes to terms with the action before it was needed.

Watching the tears flow she was reminded of AJ's admission. Someone had taken the life of that child, someone unexpected.

As she edged him away to the fringe of the massacre, she found herself shepherding a lost Violet along behind with her other hand, tightly.

She knelt down before AJ as he stood rubbing sore eyes with his sleeve, and tried to keep her voice low until she knew exactly what had happened at the scene before she'd arrived.

Clementine could sense that he was trying to subdue a wrath simmering within. She made sure he knew he had her full attention before pressing him.

"AJ.... what do you mean by what you just said?" Clementine asked carefully, this time trying to retain clarity of mind.

"She killed him-" He started.

"Who killed him, AJ??"

He appeared to lose control of his emotions then as the resentment over took his sadness, mixing to form a volatile outburst.

"RYAN!" He shouted, turning around and using one of his balled fists to point out her deceased body splayed out on road. "SHE did it!" 

It was hard for Clementine to properly take this on board. _Why would she?_ She had been nothing but helpful to their cause aside from the odd instance of a flight response when faced with peril.  
But that was natural....

"Okay, AJ... did you see her do it?" She asked, trying to get a picture of why Ryan would commit something so brutal and out of character.

Before he could reply however Clementine felt the hand in her own tense, with the owners voice accompanying the motion. 

It was weak and weary as she answered on behalf of AJ.

"We both saw, Clem..." Violet said.

Clementine was forced to split her attention between the both of them then, her head ticking back and forth between the two as she grasped for a reason that wouldn't jive with what she knew.

"Maybe it... was an accident? During the attack?" Clementine said aloud, knowing how blindly reactionary the adrenaline in ones body could make the senses in extreme situations.

But Violet shook her head no as Clem noted the chained girls in her peripherals, standing off in the near distance. Empathy was clear in each of their withered faces as they exchanged conversation that Clementine could not hear. 

Lilly had started moving through the crowd of dead bodies strewn around the scene. She stepped above each one and pushed a blade she'd recovered from one of The Homecoming into the foreheads of those who did not already have permanently compromised brain function.

"It happened after. A-and before." Violet explained vaguely, bringing Clementine back to decoding how everything she could see had unfolded.

"What do you mean before??" Violet closed her eyes as she tried to get her memories in order, breathing slow and deep, clearness of semi-dried tears making the skin along their path shine.

"She caught up to us. I had thought she was staying behind- with you... but-" She stopped for a second as one of her breaths seemed to catch. 

Clementine squeezed her hand again to let her know the pause was okay. She would be patient.

"A-and she just started going on about God like some fucking religious nut! Saying how he had taken so much from her." Clementine recalled the exchange on the day they departed the water tower. 

Ryan had spoke spiritually then too. Professing her inability to understand God for his actions but by the same token had told that she had learned to cope with the loss. She never did explain how.

Clementine remained quiet as she mulled over the other past interactions with Ryan as Violet continued.

"How he kept handing out second chances when her children never even got their first...." Violet continued. "It was like she just snapped."

"Or revealed her true self..." Clementine said, starting to see the little things in a new light and feeling sicker with each altered memory.

"She started asking Tenn to tell her how he got his scars again... e-even though she already knew. When he told her - she just grabbed him... we tried to make her stop but she held a knife to his throat."

Violets breathing started to accelerate and Clementine stood in reaction, placing one cold palm on her chest, tilting her chin up with the other until their faces were point blank.

Aside from the intention of helping Violet through recounting the horror she would also be able to monitor her breathing as she could feel it now on her face.

"It's okay, Vi. I'm here. I just need to understand." Clementine said, trying to hold it together herself. "Take your time with it, non of this was your fault."

"I'm trying..." She replied, exhausted. "Um, okay, s-she started going off about how Tenn should have died in the fire. And how she was going to fix that because God wouldn't..."

Memories began to flicker forth before Clementine as Violet continued to speak, passing by like flashes of light in falling shards of glass.

Had she tried this before? Clementine had awoken the night of James' disappearance to find Ryan close to a sleeping Tennessee, suspiciously so now that she thought about it.

She had jumped with surprise at Clementine announcing her presence... was that something more than just an attempt to stop him snoring?

"Me and Louis- we begged her to stop. We tried everything. He even told her this wasn't her- but she said that it was. That it had been for years... we just tried to keep her talking...."

"She said she killed Aasim too!" AJ interjected furiously. His face contorted. It was hard to watch him unable to know how to deal with such a crippling array of emotions. 

Clem wasn't sure AJ had experienced anything of this magnitude before. She was just thankful he hadn't taken to kicking the stuffing out of her corpse.

Though only because Clem may have well been unable to keep herself from joining him. She was finding it hard to remain stable with each blow that was being dealt.

"No... s-she saved me then." Clementine said desperately, but again she found herself being given updated information to the contrary.

"I'm sorry, Clem but no... She admitted Tenn wasn't the first she'd taken from us. She knew he was sick and strangled him while we slept... then waited for him to come back so she could save you and use it as an act to gain our trust." Violet relayed, utter dejection in her tone.

Clementine realised why. Violet had been the one to make such a strong case for Ryan to begin with then they first spotted her skulking around the tower. And she _was_ skulking as Clementine and Lilly had originally thought.

"Hey. Hey! Vi, this is not your fault. She tricked us all, okay? There were things that didn't add up and I should have seen them. All you wanted to do was give a survivor refuge. We couldn't have known!" Clementine tried to reassure, though she knew deep down it would take many a consiliation before Violet would allow herself to feel peace.

Clem found herself now questioning every step they had taken. Her memories rushing past like a train moving at full tilt. She'd hardly had a second to process much of anything on her journey as it happened, never mind asking herself to perform a post mortem on them now.

"She said she'd been doing this for years?" Clementine asked for clarification. Violet simply nodded.

It left Clem to ponder the rammifications of this. _Years?_ Had the dead man in the locker known? Was that the real reason he'd been killed? Violet appeared to anticipate her train of thought.

"She was never forced... by Dmitri." She said, tearing another strip off Ryans credibility. Not that any existed anymore in the eyes of Clementine.

"She said he lost his balls. So she took them from him." Violet added. Clem had the inkling from this that Dmitri had been Ryan's accomplice for a long time, before having second thoughts...

She knew nothing of the man, and yet Clementine doubted he was ever her therapist, that in fact the set up had potentially been the other way around. If there had been any traditional counselling.

She could never know for sure now however, but the recent raw truths about Ryan gave her cause to question it all. "James?" Clementine asked, afraid of the answer.

"She never said. I- I don't think so though." Violet guessed. Something Clem would have to live doing when thinking of the boy in the future.

Clementine looked away from Violet just in time to see Lilly kneel over Louis with the blade in her grasp. She raised it up over her head ready to prevent reanimation.

Then she paused. Lowering her ear to his face, Clementine watched her silently, buying time as the information stacked up against Ryan. The Goodwill.

Had Violet really missed a door? Clementine knew she could trust her to check the exits, to clear a room. It was survival 101. And the walkers didn't pile into the room right away. In fact they only did so after Ryan had returned from the bathroom to change clothes. 

She hadn't banked on Louis setting free the other horde, trapping them all in the room together with no option but to fight for freedom as one. Clementine shivered at how that could have ended for them all, AJ had been half a second from checking out early....

"The kids breathing!" Lilly called out, dropping the knife to the side of Louis and pulling open his eyelids to check they'd not frosted over. "He's alive!"

Clementine hadn't even thought about it before she'd taken off to reach Lilly and a shallow breathing Louis. She continued to hear crying behind her, and for a moment she surrounded herself with a brick wall of guilt. Tenn would never breathe again.

But that didn't mean she should allow Louis to fall to a similar fate. Though she didn't quite know how she was needed as Lilly did not seem to be applying much in the way of medical assistance.

"Is she dead?" Louis asked, voice croaked, and his first words incredibly telling. Clementine motioned back to Violet for her to bring over water.

She then darted another look to Ryan, who was close enough now that Clem could see that it was Violets hatchet embedded in her skull.

"Yeah, she's dead..." Clementine replied, providing confirmation. Lilly shot her a look of being out of the loop, to which Clementine whispered she would tell her later.

Clementine wasn't sure how long exactly Louis had been incompacitated. Did she need to tell him of Tenns demise? His reaction told her he had been in the dark.

"But she took Tenn..." Clementine said, full of sorrow. Louis smacked his fist to the floor hard as he looked up to the heavens, which were ironically as clear as could be.

Clementine grabbed his fist so he could not repeat the action as Violet handed the water to Lilly who unscrewed the cap and tipped it lightly into Louis' waiting mouth.

He swallowed some down and nudged the bottle away again so he could continue to speak.

"I- hoped that one of them could have got to her when they interrupted" Clem assumed he meant The Homecoming and realised that they somehow had been able to overcome them together despite the odds.

"Violet got to her in the end, Louis." She said, assuming on account of it being her weapon that had done the damage. "But only after..." She trailed off. It didn't need to be said again.

"You remember what happened to you?" Lilly asked, testing Louis' faculties some more. He scrunched his eyes tight as he tried to address the question.

"I, uh, I don't know. I was tangling with one of them. They had enough guns to take us out from a distance but they must have wanted the fight... I guess I got hit with a sitter." Louis surmised, touching his cheekbone cautiously.

He propped himself up on his elbows and looked at the splinters of people both alive and dead.

"Who're the chain gang?" He asked.

"It's a long story for another time. Suffice to say we picked them up back on the bridge. They'll be coming with us to The Greenbrier." Clementine replied succinctly.

The crying had waned to sniffles and whimpers, and looking over to where Tenn lay she found the twins now embracing each other. AJ had rejoined the body of Tennessee and it left Clementine feeling uneasy, though for good reason it still felt wrong to her.

She was unsure whether they had overheard AJ's outburst and thus knew the hand behind the blade that had murdered their brother. Clementine decided however that they needed not know in that moment. The who or the why paled next to the what. 

"I'm going to- uh." Clementine stammered, but Louis understood, she didn't need to finish.

"Yeah, go be with them." He said simply. She regained her feet once more, the ache in them evident, though she felt an enormous guilt for feeling it in light of what else they'd lost.

She decided on not saying anything as she approached, there were no words to pacify or comfort loss so intimate. All Clementine could offer that made sense was her touch.

She joined them, wrapping her arms around both sets of shoulders, or at least as much of them as her short arms allowed and rested her cheek against their damp and freckled cheeks.

Neither of them acknowledged her, but she didn't expect them to. They did not however push her away either, with Clementine taking it as them giving blessing to the contact.

She had no idea how their personalities could fracture going forward, but for now they were reduced, raw and bare in their mourning. Clementine resolved to keep tabs on Tenns state with AJ in such close proximity.

There had been enough casualties on the road to The Greenbrier and nobody else was going to fall. She motioned Violet to join her guilt was still too fresh and she elected to stay with Louis who was taking more water from Lilly.

Lilly would offer her condolences on her own time, that's just the way she was, it didn't make her any less sympathetic for the death of a group member. Even the one she had dealt herself. Clementine recalled the immediate remorse she had shown after the gun had gone off.

She didn't blame anybody for the reaction they'd had, everyone had seen red and were well within reason having done so. In fact Clementine may well have acted similar to the adults had she not been so wide eyed and innocent to the new world.

And she still held the belief that making a case to keep Lilly on the R.V was the right call despite her subsequent thievery and escape.

Clementine felt movement on the asphalt behind her, slow and sedated she knew where and who it had come from. She peeled away from Minnie and Sophie, who promptly looked around to see after the reason.

Tenn was in the process of reanimating before them. His eyes, having been closed by one of the twins stayed that way, but his hands moved stiffly and without apparent direction. His feet would begin to follow soon after.

Clementine ushered AJ out of arms reach and knelt on the other side of Tenn. The twins realised what was happening, barely holding back another descent into tears in response.

"We're going to need to-" Clementine started, but Minerva halted the rest of the sentence. And despite her lip trembling with emotion, her reply was cold and distant.

"I know." She said simply, her eyes bloodshot and narrowed. Clementine had a blade pulled out ready, but Minerva opted to wait for Sophie to slowly take her own from inside her boot.

After handing it over she moved to the free side of Tenn and took one of his randomly moving hands into her own. The odd tear slipping free and onto her brother.

Minnie moved to behind his head and lifted it up, her breathing unregulated though she tried to keep each one deep and slow. She bit her lip again, but this time not to subdue a smile, but to keep from capitulating into herself.

She leaned over and kissed Tenn on the forehead before whispering in his ear.

"I love you."

Then she appeared to hesitate for a moment, perhaps unable to go through with the act. He still looked and felt like Tenn after all.

But it lasted only a few seconds, because as Tenn started to murmur incoherently, Clementine heard Minnie breathe in sharply before delicately pushing the shiv into the newly comandeered brain of her little brother.

It was the noises that did it. Every single time. You knew they were gone for good when the guttural rasping began. That was when all trace of the prior being ceased. Alien in reincarnation.


	30. The Greenbrier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are. 
> 
> The final chapter of my novel. And I have to say, I'm extremely proud of myself. I've never managed to write anything close to this word count before.
> 
> I always find myself drifting away from it. And most of my attempts never get finished as a result. But today, I can finally say I have written a novel sized fanfiction. Something I have always wanted to be able to say.
> 
> And now I can. I'm not bestowed with a talent for visualisation. In fact I find it extremely hard to properly describe my settings as I do not have the best imagination. But I have overcome that to finish my story.
> 
> Thanks a lot in part to you readers. 
> 
> It does sound corny and silly, but I truly do mean it. Your comments and kudos and likes kept me going, honestly. And I can't thank you enough for that.
> 
> So, I hope you like my ending. Enjoy!

*

The atmosphere was thick with a concoction of conflicting emotions that sat heavy on all of them.

A mourning for the loss of a child, a brother. Regret for unknowingly allowing an enemy into their midst. And then an apprehension upon closing in on The Greenbrier which they would come upon any minute now.

It should have been cause for celebration, and yet the exhaustion they all felt both physically and mentally muted any feeling of levity. It would feel wrong.

Not when Tennessee was still with them all, it having been decided he would not be buried along that long and lonely stretch of road.

Instead he would carried most of the way by his twin sisters to a final resting place outside The Greenbrier. Where he would always be within reach for the girls, and for AJ.

The place would be their home, or so they hoped. It would be Tennessee's too.

Though as light as he was, it would prove impossible for both Sophie and Minerva to carry their brother for the complete nine hours - though they tried valiantly.

It became a joint effort as the others took over for spells, so to speak, carrying Tenn for as long as they could before passing him to the next set of willing arms. It was the least they could do for him and the family members left behind to keep his memory...

Clementine however was given a pass due to her leg, which had been neglected ever since Louis had tended to it, though she found herself moving a little easier now, having taken the time to have fresh bandages applied this time by Violet.

Clementine found her to still be sheepish, but had also noticed a low key improvement in her state as Clem kept her talking while she wrapped the gauze around her upper thigh.

She'd returned the favour by using a sizeable amount of their remaining water to wash the dried blood from her once clean, blonde hair. She just hoped that where they were going had a body of water close by.

Short introductions had helped at the time too, as Emryn and the other girls moved into their ranks, however brief their stay may prove to be. 

Condolences were given, and taken surprisingly well on Minervas part. Clementine knew how volatile a personality she was and she feared a somewhat smothering show of pity on the part of Danika in particular would only result in an outburst of resistance from the abbrasive twin.

Minerva did not exactly take it positively, at least outwardly, but her continued silence at hearing the sympathy of strangers was much better than the aforementioned alternative.

There would be no further retribution directed upon Ryan. 

Not on the part of Minnie and Sophie anyway, as their arms had been full when they had passed her body, in enough grief that it may not have even crossed their minds - that was if they had overheard AJ.

Lilly however would step in for them. Clementine would watch over her shoulder as she lingered behind at the scene of the massacre, having been filled in with the relevant information.

But it was not a brutal showing. Ryan was dead, and she would stay that way thanks to Violets hatchet rooted deep into the brain. 

Ryan did not deserve a thing, no show of emotion, no revenge. 

And Lilly knew this.

She'd pulled the hatchet from its place with swift force, causing Ryans head to snap upwards with it momentarily before her cheek thudded back down to the concrete, not unlike one of her earliest interactions with Lilly.

She stood with a cold stare down upon Ryan, likely rueing ever allowing her gut to be overruled. 

Clementine just hoped she had enough tact to never bring up the fact that Minnie and Sophie had stopped her blowing Ryans head off in the tower immediately after 'saving' Clementine.

Truly no good deed, she thought to herself as Lilly spat at the ground where Ryan lay, stepping over her then and leaving her behind to the elements that would eventually take all of her until nothing remained behind to find.

*

Silence broke for the first time in hours as Clementine gasped involuntarily, finally catching sight of The Greenbrier resort in person, no longer a picture postered on a brochure.

It's structure stood collosal behind the trees seeking to surround the entirety of its scale. But even with ten years of overgrowth they failed.

And so Clementine found herself leaving the snaking road leading to the entrance to cut through those same trees, rushing with the rest of her group in toe.

Her palms brushed past the tall grass, her feet crushing the rest underfoot until she broke through the last line of trees, coming out onto one of eleven thousand acres of land that The Greenbrier had once owned.

The sun was receeding by now, but its rays still splintered from behind the six story high building, bathing the sprawling lawn and by extension all the flourishing but unkempt beds of flowers.

Once bordered and maintained they now sat intertwined, bursts of deep reds and purples encroaching on their counterparts land, at war with themselves.

Clementine heard rustling behind her as the last of their number came upon the spot where she stood on the landscape, dwarfed by the grand white walls.

"How is this thing still standing?" Louis asked at her right hand side, incredulous at the largely undamaged resort. 

Aside from a few smashed windows (out of what appeared to be hundreds) and somewhat harshly weathered stone toward the top that rendered the paint work discoloured and streaked in places it otherwise stood unscathed.

"I'm not sure...." Clementine answered, gazing over the sheer breadth of the place.

From the centre, the entrance of which was propped up by many cylindrical pillars, towering in stature, then across to the outer two wings sitting adjacent to one another, their faces jutting forth, at odds with the inner wing.

"Well if you think about it, it'd take a lot to bring down those walls. Explosives to do any real damage..." Emryn educated as she stepped forward for a closer look, her oversized top looking more like a plaid dress on her short frame.

She carried on until she could place a hand on the walls of the hotel, pulling Kacey, Danika, and Lacey-Mae along behind her.

"Can I go with them?" AJ asked, sans the excitement he would usually have at exploring a new place. Clementine hoped he would recover from the loss of his friend. The adverse effects didn't bear thinking about.

And that's why, despite her own cautiousness at what may lie within the many, many walls, she allowed it. AJ knew to always find an exit before anything else and she was confident he would do so should he find himself in trouble.

Though she doubted there would be any to run into. Any sane inhabitants would be watching like hawks for intruders upon their home and promptly set about defending it by shooting them where they stood. That was if they had the numbers. And if they didn't, they knew resistance was futile.

"Sure kiddo. Be careful though, okay? Stay in sight, you hear me?" Clementine responded, gripping his shoulder tightly before allowing him off the tight leash she'd kept him on for the last leg of their journey.

"I know, Clem." He said. AJ looked around for the shortest second then, as though seeking out someone. When he failed to do so he slouched off alone and Clementine watched him go.

"I'll be with you in a minute, okay?" She called after him, not wanting to leave him in anyone elses hands for too long again. She promised herself she would be there for him going forward. Every step of the way.

Clementine looked around her to find Minnie and Sophie having laid Tenn into the tall grass so they could sit beside him and take in their new home.

Understandably they did not show much in the way of emotion, not now. They wore tried faces. Identical in features and now indentical in sadness too. Clem had lost more than enough to know the pain would heal in ways. 

She just hoped those ways would be done so with a semblance of positivity.

Clementine had wanted to thank Lilly for essentially sparking the journey by remembering The Greenbrier in the first place, but she found that the oldest of her living aquaintances had matched AJ and the girls having met the entrance.

Clementine knew her one goal however was to find the bunker that they would reside in beneath the grand floors of the Greenbrier. Violet took her hand then before speaking up, a little stronger now they were at their destination.

"It's a shame we're not going to be able to enjoy the whole of this place." She said, regrettably. Clementine agreed, but she knew the bunker was their best chance at continued survival.

"Someone, sometime will find this. And they'll want to take it for themselves. By force if necessary. At least if we're underground we'll be hidden from view. With the size of this place we could probably live under the noses of anyone who decides to move in..."

"I know." Violet replied, though her tone remained forlorn. Clementine had to give her some hope, even if she was unlikely to ever act on it herself.

"Who knows... maybe one day we can fortify it together. We can have a life here, feel safe." She offered all the while recalling Ericson, Richmond, and Prescott. 

One time havens that fell despite each inhabitants best intentions. The walls always came down. Which was why they needed the twenty five tonne steel door to protect them.

If it could stand nuclear fallout, it could definitely withstand a couple of automatic rifles and whatever other fire power the rest of The Homecoming could bring. That was if there were any more out there as Emryn advised.

"Maybe." Violet replied. "Shall we go?" She asked tentatively. Clementine looked again at the twins and cleared her throat, she didn't want to disturb them, but she didn't want to act like they didn't exist either.

"Uh, a-are you coming in?" She asked, trying to meet their eyes despite feeling that the depression they wore could be contracted by simply doing so. Minerva did not respond, and Clementine hadn't expected her to.

Sophie however took the time to do so, the gentler of the two souls in many ways. "I think we're going to stay here for now. We need to- to find a place for Tenn, we don't have much time now." She answered, indicating to her little brothers signs of decay beginning to take hold.

"Yeah... we'll come back once we've found the entrance." Clementine said, nodding and awkwardly moving away with Violet and Louis tagging along.

Clementine navigated her way through the copious amount of flowers and weeds tresspassing over and between the cracks of the pathways leading toward the awaiting entrance. 

It was covered overhead by an extended balcony that had probably been used for parties and would now only be used as another lookout point.

The entrance itself had all windows completely intact unlike the ones she'd seen further afield. The people who'd caused the breakages could well still be around, but if they were indeed inside, clearing the building would be far too time consuming a task to undertake.

From what she could recall the brochure had advertised no less than 700 rooms. It would be impossible, and brought back the notion that they could likely live under the noses of anybody in the resort without being discovered such was the scope of the Greenbrier.

Entering inside they were met with ruin, showing that the place had been looted probably many times over in the years proceeding their arrival. Upturned tables, torn cloth, smashed paintings and all other manner of destruction where it needn't have been done.

Even chandeliers in the rooms that had them had come away from their fittings, smashed on the floor beneath where they'd once hung, illuminating the rooms they now passed on their quest to find Lilly and the bunker.

At least they could surmise it at least would be found on the ground floor. Cutting out a massive percentage of their search.

"AJ" Clementine said, spotting him with the girls after bobbing her head into a particularly wide open room that had mirror shards strewn across the floor discriminately. "Come on, we're going to go find the bunker."

He smiled at hearing her voice and leapt to join her side as Violet picked up a large and mangled frame holding a now ripped through painting.

"Looks like Louis has been through here with his baseball bat." She said, discarding the indesipherable picture back to the soiled carpet.

The strong smell of damp rose up from it, with years of all wet weather having blown in through the broken windows to soak through its surface, creating a pungent smell that continued to mix in with the rotting wood from the beams overhead.

If they ever did decide to come up above their hide away permanently then the entirety of the building would need serious work to restore it to real livability...

"I reject that assertion!" Louis started, still looking bare with only his black vest top covering his upper body. He wore a shiner under his left eye, purpotrated by his assailant, but aside from that he looked in better health than when they'd discovered he was still alive.

"I would never bring disregard down upon a work of art such as this!" He continued flamboyantly. "And his name, is Chairles!" Now it was starting to feel like the status quo, Clementine thought.

They had done without much of anything on the final advance toward The Greenbrier, and Louis' comedy had been sorely missed. 

He always knew how to pull a smile from his audience. And Clementine knew how important that was to have around. Even if at times it came during trying periods. She appreciated it more than he would ever know.

Violet and Louis started to bicker then, trading insults in one of a plethora of grand hallways while the chained girls stood and laughed at their rather inventive retorts, one of which involved Violet threatening to set Chairles a blaze and turn Louis into a fireeater.

Clementine and AJ wandered together, hand in hand, allowing the voices to peter out into the distance. AJ fiddled with his gun in his other hand.

She noticed there was a little unrest in his mind. And it didn't take a genius to figure out what.

"You'll miss him AJ. More than you do now, believe me. But you can come to me when you do, okay? We'll bury him outside and we can talk to him about whatever you want to. It'll help." Clementine said, grasping for the right words to bestow upon him when there were simply non.

"I wanted to help, Clem. I tried to shoot her. But- then I only had one left." He lamented, staring down at the chambers of his pistol. A cold chill swept through Clementine as she understood what he meant.

"AJ, you can never tell anybody that. You hear me?" She said sternly, pulling him to a stop, thankful they were both out of earshot.

"Why not?" He asked. She had no idea how to appropriately answer that question. To make him understand that there were times when Saving the Last Bullet for Yourself had exemptions.

One of which would be using that bullet to ensure the survival of one of your own, in this case Tennessee. Clementine could never let him know that not pulling the trigger on that last bullet may have played a part in the reason he was no longer here.

"Some people wouldn't understand, AJ. They could react badly. T-they would ask why you saved that bullet. I- I know why, because I taught you to always do that. But some people think differently. They think doing that is selfish." Clementine said, dancing around the subject, while also trying to warn him of the consequences.

"Is it selfish?" He asked, blocking her in unknowingly. Clementine searched for a way out, drawing on any relevant history she had to use.

"It's a hard decision to make - or not make, AJ... You remember Kenny?" She asked. He nodded.

"I remember you telling me about him, how he helped protect me when I was a baby." AJ said, filling Clementine with a sense of immense pride on behalf of the man she held next to Lee.

"Well before you, he helped protect someone else. A boy called Ben. They were surrounded by walkers, and he fought until he only had one bullet left. But instead of using it on himself, he used it to save Ben. So he wouldn't have to suffer being eaten..." Clementine recounted her second hand information of the events.

"But then he would have been eaten himself..." AJ said, confused.

"If he hadn't gotten real lucky, yes. But he cared enough about Ben to risk that fate, you understand? Sometimes, you have to make that decision for the people you care about. Sometimes the last bullet is better spent elsewhere... whether its to save someones suffering, or life..." Clementine finished.

She didn't dare speak Tenns name, that would be a cruel revealtion to put on AJ's shoulders. As he got older he would likely understand for himself. But for now she hoped what she'd relayed would be enough going forward.

"So I don't save the last bullet for myself?" He asked for confirmation. Clementine shook her head.

"That's your decision AJ. You'll know when you should, when you can. Just remember Kenny, Okay? If you have one bullet that could save another, and that person is worth the sacrifice in your heart, then make it. I can't tell you when that might be, or who it might be for." 

She finished, heavy hearted. 

AJ would not continue his questioning, instead falling quiet while he tried wrap his mind around the lesson she had flipped on its head.

They continued to walk together then, down the broken and busted hallways of The Greenbrier, checking their doors and corners just in case anything lurked inside unbeknown to them.

AJ's revelation played on her mind, it would be hard to shake. Clementine had always tried so hard to teach him right and wrong. But it was the grey areas that she faltered with time after time.

Because as much as the likes of Lilly could profess to live in a black and white world, and be content doing so, surviving the worst, Clementine wasn't sure if she could watch AJ grow up to be that cold and calculating.

She had to be better with him. Careful with the lessons she taught, she couldn't take for granted that morality would come good within him. That he would learn that she did not hold all the answers.

A murmur intruded on her thoughts then, though she would not have known its origin had AJ not been able to locate the slightly ajar wall panel as they turned at the end corner of one of the spacious corridors.

She stayed quiet to listen, hearing the familiar voice of Lilly behind the wall as she did so, which appeared to slide on wheels completely away from the rest of the wall that camoflauged it on both sides.

Her voice was more delicate than usual as she had a peaceful moment to herself after such a draining journey, and Clementine almost felt bad for intruding on it, even accidentally.

"Thanks, Dad." She said.

Clementine hung back, trying to allow her the quiet reflection that she had earned. But it didn't last long as everyone but the twins came bounding down the hall, a renewed sense of energy palpable in their laughter.

"Did you find it!?" Louis asked as he reached her. Trying to pretend that Lilly had any privacy was now useless and within seconds she'd pushed the panel across to reveal both herself and a massive, squared steel door behind her.

That answered Louis' question well enough. It stood sealed shut, looking to be many inches thick. And the chatter and commotion began at seeing the door to their new home. 

An excitement that coarsed even through Clementine, though she tried to keep it in check. Lacey-Mae literally let out a high pitched squeal though and Danika even started to sob. It was more than apparent that they had suffered with The Homecoming.

Clementine and her group were not the only ones finally feeling like they were coming up for air for the first time in a long time.

"It's a twenty five tonne door. So if we want in then we're all going to have to chip in to get this thing pryed open." Lilly said, back on mission after a quiet word with her departed father.

They did so once the atmosphere quietened enough. Though the steering wheel shaped handle was big, it would not allow everyone around it.

And so with the strongest of them - Louis, twisting it loose with surprising ease considering the stiffness ten years would have given it, the rest formed a line behind one another and hugged the one before them tightly around the middle in order to help lend weight pulling the secured door open.

They held their breaths in tandem. Both to draw on more strength inside and out of anticipation, this would be the last obstacle they were to overcome.

It swung open. The weight of it making it impossible to halt once it had began to move toward them. Louis let go to stop himself being smushed into the wall sending himself and everyone connected to him backwards onto the floor.

The mammoth steel careered into the wall with wrecking ball like force, denting it to a buckled state. Clementine in her disorientation had joined in on the laughter with the rest of her party at the slapstick results.

She couldn't remember the last time she had allowed herself to do that. To devolve into such a fit in fact that with Violet sprawled on top of her from the fall she did not notice the man standing in the now open entrance to the bunker.

He was old. In his early fifties at least. Wrinkles and cracks forming on his face as he approached the latter stages of life. His hair was still brown but fading at the sides. She wasn't able to see a receeding line of hair due to the trucker hat he wore atop his head.

Clementine noticed it was not too unlike her own. Though noticeably it was missing the D that James had so kindly stitched back on for her.

The mans nose was wide and his facial hair was stubbled, not fulfilling its potential to be a beard as he stood with a smirk and a burning cigarette between his lips.

He withdrew it after revelling in the shocked faces of his audience, though they really should have expected this. Finding it empty was just too high a hope.

"So, are you folks the cavalry? Don't worry about answering that. I'm not holding my breath." He said from the archway. 

Nobody responded, not even Lilly. They were stumped where they sat, having been dealt yet another blow, the laughter well and truly cut down to silence. The man went on at being afforded more of the floor.

"My names Nate by the way, thanks for asking."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How bout dat doe?


End file.
